Joint exercises of emergency services personnel are underway in the Vitebsk region and the Latgale region of Latvia.

13 February, Vitebsk /Olga Bogacheva - BELTA/. Joint exercises of emergency services are being held today in the Vitebsk region and the Latgale region of Latvia, BELTA reports with reference to the official website of the Vitebsk Regional Department of the Ministry of Emergency Situations.

The operational-tactical exercises are organised within the framework of the project LLB-1-057 "Creation of a joint response system for accidents involving the spillage of hazardous chemicals and oil into the Western Dvina (Daugava) river during the winter period", funded by the European Union.

The main objective of the event is to practice the interaction of management bodies, forces and means of the republican systems for warning and eliminating emergencies of the Utena County of Lithuania, the Vitebsk region, the Latgale region of Latvia, as well as the Republican Special Purpose Unit of the Ministry of Emergency Situations of Belarus for the localisation and elimination of emergencies related to oil entering the Western Dvina (Daugava) river as a result of a pipeline accident.

According to the plan, today at 10:00 AM, due to ground subsidence at the 448.5 km mark at the underwater crossing of the Surgut-Polotsk pipeline section through the Western Dvina near the settlement of Ventsavoye in the Vitebsk region, the oil pipeline was damaged, resulting in an oil leak and its subsequent spread along the river into the territory of the Vitebsk region and the Republic of Latvia.

A total of 124 people and 27 units of equipment from the emergency rescue and emergency repair departments of Belarus, Latvia and Lithuania are involved in the exercises. Considering the protracted nature of emergency rescue and other urgent work in eliminating this conditionally dangerous cross-border situation, engineering equipment from other economic entities has also been involved, and a field camp has been organised.

The exercises will conclude with a demonstration of equipment and emergency rescue equipment by units of the Ministry of Emergency Situations of Belarus, the State Fire and Rescue Service of the Republic of Latvia, the Fire and Rescue Department under the Ministry of the Interior of the Republic of Lithuania, as well as the emergency repair units, organisations and departments of the three countries involved in the exercises.-0-