On Wednesday, about 20,000 tons of diesel fuel spilled from the storage of a power plant in Siberia, Russia. In view of this, President Vladimir Putin declared Emergency here. This power plant is in the city of Norilsk, 2,900 km from Moscow. From here the diesel flowed into the Ambarnaya river. The river feeds a lake from which springs another river that leads to the Arctic Ocean. An attempt has been initiated to stop the fuel from spreading into the river.

The spill occurred on Friday. Putin got angry on the officials after getting information about it two days later. The power plant from which the fuel has leaked is a unit of Norilsk Nickel. It is one of the world's giants producing nickel and palladium metals.

The company Norilsk Nickel has stated that the information was given timely and accurate.  According to the experts of the World Wildlife Fund, about 350 sq km area has been polluted by this incident. It has spread over a large part of the Ambarnaya River. In such a situation, its cleaning will be very difficult. This will adversely affect fish and other water resources. This is estimated to result in a loss of Rs 98.13 crore.