South Korean Oil Spill
December 10, 2007 Leave a Comment
Big oil spill on the coast of South Korea
Sea farms and fishing areas on the country’s western coast have been turned into a “sea of oil” following the Friday leakage of oil from a tanker in seas off Taean, South Chungcheong Province, which is believed one of the world’s most devastating sea pollution cases involving oil.
Maritime officials say about 5 percent of the oil has been collected, and about 9,000 soldiers, police, officials and volunteers were struggling to clean up the polluted area, Monday, the fourth day of operations.
The amount of oil spilled _ 10,500 tons _ is more than double the 5,000 tons that leaked from the Sea Prince into seas off Yeosu, South Jeolla Province, Korea’s worst previous oil spill in 1995.
It is also about 28 percent of the 37,000 tons leaked from the Exxon Valdez into Alsaka’s Prince William Sound in 1989, one of the world’s worst sea pollutions by oil. [the recent spill in San Francisco Bay was about 190 tons — 1/55 of Korean spill.]
South Korea—Chung Hwan-hyang surveyed the damage from South Korea’s worst oil spill, saddened by the knowledge that the oyster farm she and her husband ran for 30 years was lost.
more stories like this“My oysters are all dead,” the 70-year-old woman said Sunday as she and thousands of others cleaned foul-smelling oil from Shinduri Beach. “I cried and cried last night. I don’t know what to do.”
Recent Comments