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SYDNEY - Newcastle emergency workers were on high alert yesterday after an oil spill on a cargo ship.
Authorities scrambled to prevent an explosion after a rupture in the hydraulic line of the cargo ship's crane sent more than 150 litres of oil spilling on to about 30 bags of ammonium nitrate, used as an explosive in the mining industry, about 3am.
The bags, which are wrapped first in plastic then in polypropalene, were among about 2000 being loaded on to the cargo vessel Priam. Emergency workers spent more than 12 hours removing the contaminated bags one by one and an unknown number of other bags from the ship's hold. The bags were inspected and cleaned.
A 1km exclusion zone was established as a precaution.
- AAP
