Scientists in Odessa Unable to Explain for Tidal Wave that Rushed Ashore

Ukraine

ITAR-TASS
June 27, 2014

Scientists in the city of Odessa have failed to explain for the causes of an unusually tall tidal wave that rushed ashore Friday in the city’s beach areas and in the neighboring port town of Ilyichevsk.

A tidal wave more than 2 meters tall battered the beaches of Odessa and Ilyichevsk Friday. Eyewitnesses claimed its emergence had been preceded by an obtuse sound of an explosion.




“Measuring equipment didn’t register any tremors of the crust or any other geophysical events that might have triggered a tsunami of this kind,” Dr. Konstantin Yegupov, the chief of a seismic survey station at the Odessa State Academy of Construction told reporters.

He said the researchers had not confirmed the versions of either an underwater blast or the so-called rump wave.

“All the evidence available to us points to a local surge of the sea, presumably in the area of Chernomorka and the wave moved from the northeast to the southwest but we can only theorize about the nature of that surge,” Dr. Yegupov said.

A special commission has been set up by the regional branch of the state service for emergency situations response to establish the causes of the phenomenon.

“A total of six people, including four children, received traumas and were taken to the region’s central hospital,” Dr. Yegupov said.

Along with it, rescue services did not confirm the reports on a child who had allegedly died that went viral in social networks.

 The press office of the emergencies service claimed the number of injured was so small and no one had died owing to the fact that there were too few visiting holidaymakers in Odessa this year because of the tense situation in all the parts of Ukraine.