Oil spill reaches shore
2007-12-08 10:23
Seoul - Oil from a damaged supertanker has reached South Korea's western shore, a Coast Guard official said on Saturday, deepening fears of environmental damage from the country's largest oil spill.
About km of coastline near Mallipo beach, approximately 150km southwest of Seoul, has been affected by the oil, said Jung Se-hi, a spokesperson at the Coast Guard headquarters in Incheon.
Jung said it was unclear how serious the contamination was. The region is popular for its scenic beaches and is also the site of fish farms, a national maritime park and is an important rest stop for migrating birds.
About 66 000 barrels of oil gushed on Friday from the Hong Kong-registered tanker after a crane-carrying barge slammed into it. The spill was the country's largest, involving twice as much oil as the worst previous spill in 1995.
The accident occurred about 11km off Mallipo beach.
Strong winds and prevailing currents have spread the oil slick to an area about 2km wide and 20km in length, Jung said.
YTN television showed a contaminated beach, with some rocks and sand stained in black.
The Coast Guard planned to mobilise 103 vessels and six helicopters on Saturday in an effort to clean it up, Jung said, adding that the operation was expected to take at least three days.
"We're doing our best to remove the contamination as quickly as possible, but it will take some time to clean up the shore because it needs to be done by hand," said Kim Woon-tae, a Coast Guard official stationed in the region.
Kim said oil was still trickling out of the punctured tanker, but the hole would soon be sealed completely.
Chang Geun-ho, an official of the Maritime and Fisheries Ministry, said on Friday that the extent of environmental damage would depend on the success of the containment operation, though he added that cold winter temperatures could help slow the spread of the oil slick by freezing it.
The size of the leak reported by the authorities would be about one-fourth that of the 260&nbsol000 barrels, or 11 million gallons, of oil spilled into Alaska's Prince William Sound by the Exxon Valdez in 1989.
The tanker, the Hebei Spirit, and the other vessel, owned by South Korea's Samsung Corp., were in no danger of sinking, the Coast Guard said. There were no casualties in the accident, it said.
The tanker was at anchor and carrying about 260 000 tons of crude oil - about 1.8 million barrels - to be loaded into boats from a nearby port when it was hit by the South Korean barge which was being towed by a small tug boat, said Kim Tae-ho, another Coast Guard official.
- SAPA