South Korea's worst oil spill blackens west coast*

09 Dec 2007 03:01:24 GMT
Source: Reuters

By Jo Yong-hak

TAEAN, South Korea, Dec 9 (Reuters) - South Korea deployed over 100
ships and thousands of troops on Sunday to clean up the worst oil spill
in its history, which has blackened beaches, coated birds in tar and
cast a foul smell over a nature reserve.

The slick has washed up in an area spanning 17 kms (11 miles) of the
west coast, about 100 km southwest of Seoul, that is home to popular
tourist beaches, a national park and oyster beds. The spill is
threatening to become a major environmental disaster.

The slick extends about 20 km from the Hong Kong-registered tanker that
began leaking an estimated 10,500 tonnes of crude oil on Friday, after a
barge carrying a crane punched holes in its hull while it was anchored,
the coast guard said.

"We have approximately 5,600 people who have been working from 5 a.m.
Sunday ... doing all we can to prevent the situation from growing
worse," said Ryu Hung of the Taean coast guard.

"Considering the tide, direction and velocity of the wind, the oil slick
is not expected to expand further for now."

Volunteers and government personnel have been scooping up oil with
buckets and absorbing cloth, treating birds covered in oil and scrubbing
blackened rocks.

Ships deploying containment fences and oil skimmers have been trying to
lessen the spill's impact. The largest slick was spreading in Mallipo
Bay, a maritime ministry official said.

"The oil is about 10 cms (4 inches) deep at Mallipo beach and we can't
even see the sand underneath. There isn't even a single seagull nearby.
They must have fled after the spill," said Lee Hee-yeol, a top village
official in the region.

The government has declared several coastal counties to be in a disaster
situation.

The leak is about a third the size of the 1989 Exxon Valdez spill of
crude oil onto Alaskan shores, which was the costliest on record.

The clean-up alone from that disaster cost around $2.5 billion while the
total costs, including fines and settlement of claims, were an estimated
$9.5 billion.

The very large crude carrier (VLCC) Hebei Spirit was about 5 miles
outside the port, waiting to unload its cargo of some 260,000 tonnes of
crude oil from the Middle East, when it was struck by the barge.
(Reporting by Lee Jin-joo, writing by Jon Herskovitz)