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Korea's southern coast has been hit by yet another disastrous oil spill... this time
in waters off the port city of Busan. Well over 200-thousand liters of oil leaked
into the water after an freighter collided with an oil tanker on Saturday.
Kim Hyun-bin reports. 237-thousand liters, that's how much oil officials
say gushed into the sea after a Liberian-registered freighter collided with an oil tanker on Saturday.
The amount of oil spilled is over 70-thousand liters more than during another oil spill
in Yeosu last month. Over the weekend, the Coast Guard managed
to place a 5-hundred meter long oil fence around the main spill to try and contain it
and chemical dispersants are being sprayed onto it.
The police said they succeeded in sealing off the hole in the vessel three hours after
the collision. The only positive news thus far is that no
oil has been found near the seashore yet, and no cases of contamination damage have
been reported. There are, however, concerns fish farms about
five kilometers from the spill could become contaminated.
The maritime police say it'll take about four days of clean up work to prevent any secondary
damage.
"We have 70 vessels deployed to contain the spill, including response vessels. The clean
up work is expected to take a few more days."
The Korea Coast Guard suspects poor weather conditions and high waves to be the main cause
of the crash, but the maritime police say they'll launch a probe to determine the exact
cause of the accident as soon as the clean-up work is finished.
Kim Hyun-bin, Arirang News.