Black Sea incident – 30,000 birds oiled?

It is still hard to get information from local organisations in the area of the incident. All relevant international organisations that we contacted so far seem to be facing this problem, so at the moment the international media are also our main sources of information. A BBC article (http:/s.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7092071.stm) has a quote saying that 30,000 birds would have been affected. In the early stages of an incident it is quite normal that high numbers of birds are said to be oiled, but this is often exaggerated and refers to the size of threatened local populations rather than actually affected birds counted. However, pictures in newspapers and footage on television leave no doubt that birds have been affected and are being found dead and alive on the beaches.