PYATIGORSK, December 9 (RIA Novosti) - Cleanup operations were launched Saturday to remove a pipeline oil spill in the southern Russian province of Stavropol.
An estimated 353 barrels of oil has leaked from the Kavkaz pipeline through a hole apparently made to siphon off some of the crude.
"According to preliminary information, the spill is a result of illegal tapping [into the pipeline]," the Emergency Situations Ministry's Stavropol branch said.
"The total land area covered by it is 3 hectares [7.4 acres]."