Authorities warned Friday of a threat to the waters of the Volga river, following an oil spill from a derailed freight train. The capital's water supply might also be under threat, said the deputy head of the Russian environmental agency, Oleg Mitvol. Some 300 tons of heating oil leaked from a goods train that jumped the tracks and plunged down an embankment in the Tver region northwest of Moscow on Wednesday evening, dpa reported. Some of the oil spilled into the Vasusa, a tributary of the Volga. Oil booms were put in place to stop the oil from spreading but environmental officials said the measures were insufficient. The fields leading up to the banks of the river were covered in a 40-centimetre-thick layer of oil, Mitvol said.
