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South Korea's Coast Guard mobilised thousands of people to clean up a disastrous oil spill polluting a swathe of the country's scenic and environmentally rich western coast.
About 100 ships, including Coast Guard, Navy and private fishing boats, were to help contain and clean up the spill, South Korea's worst, said Coast Guard official Kim Young Hwan.
Kim said about 6000 people, including government personnel, local residents and volunteers, were expected to take part yesterday, nearly triple the number on Saturday.
"This will be difficult work," Kim said. "We are just in the initial stage."
The oil started hitting beaches, including Mallipo, on Saturday after a Hong Kong-registered supertanker was slammed the day before by a South Korean-owned barge that came unmoored from its tugboat in rough seas.
A total of 66,000 barrels (10.5 million litres) of crude gushed into the ocean, more than twice as much as in South Korea's worst previous spill in 1995.
Thick, smelly waves of crude washed ashore, turning seagulls black and threatening fish farms along a 17km stretch of coast.
Mallipo is one of South Korea's best-known beaches, an important stopover for migrating birds, including snipe, mallards and great crested grebes, and has an abundant fishing industry.
Choi Kyung Hwan, a 58-year-old fisherman, came to the beach yesterday to help, but despaired for the area where he has lived for 30 years.
"Mallipo is finished," he said, referring to the disaster's economic impact.
Choi, wearing a thick winter coat, said the strong odour of oil had sickened his wife.
"But I came here because I have to do something," he said. "I don't know when we can finish. But we have to continue. I feel dizzy."
The affected areas include 181 maritime farms that produce abalone, brown seaweed, laver, littleneck clams and sea cucumbers, said Lee Seung Yop, an official with the Taean county government, which includes the beach. Aquatic farmers in the area number about 4000, he said.
"A lot of damage is feared to these farms, although we don't have an estimate yet," Lee said.
The Government has designated the oil spill a "disaster", which makes it easier for regional governments to mobilise personnel, equipment and material to cope with the situation.
But it stopped short of declaring the region a "disaster area", which would make residents eligible for government financial aid.
The accident occurred about 11km off Mallipo. The area also includes a national maritime park.
The Coast Guard said it was not clear how many days the operation would take.
The accident occurred on Friday when a crane-carrying barge en route from a construction site lost control after a wire linking it to the tugboat was cut in high winds, waves and currents. The vessel then slammed into the Hebei Spirit tanker, which had been at anchor and carrying about 260,000 tonnes - about 1.8 million barrels - of crude oil to be loaded into boats from a nearby port.
- AP
