The residents of the village of Ceatalchioi may return on Tuesday to the households they evacuated 24 hours earlier at the request of the Tulcea authorities as a preventive measure, given the explosion risk posed by a fuel laden vessel anchored on the Ukrainian bank of the Danube.

The Delta Inspectorate for Emergency Situations (ISU Delta) announced on Tuesday that Ukrainian emergency and intervention services had acted to limit the negative effects caused to the vessel damaged by Russian attacks during the night of Sunday to Monday. During the night of Monday to Tuesday, a high capacity vessel was brought to the Ismail port area to spray water over the tanks of the damaged vessel, significantly reducing the danger of a potential emergency with serious effects on neighbouring localities.

‘At this moment, an active hotspot can be noticed on board the LPG transport vessel, which Ukrainian authorities are working to extinguish. Following the risk analysis and the information received from the Ukrainian counterparts, it was decided that from 09:00 the evacuation order for the population of Ceatalchioi would be lifted. Thus, the 231 residents who self evacuated or were evacuated using the Ministry of Internal Affairs’ means of transport can return to their homes,’ the ISU Delta announcement added.

According to the source, a potential risk situation generated by the fire on the vessel was assessed as very low for the village of Ceatalchioi, as part of the gas had already burned off and at present only a single visible flame remains, which the Ukrainian authorities are acting upon. However, the potential risk remains high for the locality of Plauru.

‘The forces of the Ministry of Internal Affairs stand by the evacuated persons and will provide support so that the 231 people from Ceatalchioi can return safely to their homes by providing transport and personnel to assist the elderly or those with special needs,’ the ISU Delta Tulcea release reads. AGERPRES