About 4,000 volunteers have joined in a beach cleanup near the tourist city of Anapa, after two oil tankers were destroyed by a storm, causing a major oil spill.

The cleanup effort has been carried out along a 49km stretch of coastline. Videos shared on social media show the spill spreading and causing severe pollution in the area, with black oil spots appearing along the beach.

The tankers were all more than 50 years old and were carrying a total of 9,200 tons of oil. They were in the Kerch Strait, a body of water between Russia and Crimea, a peninsula Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014.

Russia's TASS news agency said on Tuesday that a third tanker also sent out a distress signal, but the hull remained intact, there was no oil spill and the crew was safe.

Russian authorities have declared a state of emergency in several regions, including Anapa, a popular tourist destination near the Sea of ​​Azov. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has called for volunteers to help.

"The city government and the Ministry of Emergency Situations are doing their best, but we really need the help of volunteers to complete the recovery work," she said.

Ha Trang (according to TASS, Reuters)