ed Recurring oil spill
The amount of oil spilled as a result of broken pipelines off the coast of Yeosu, South Jeolla Province, on Friday was 200 times bigger than initially estimated, triggering fears of another major oil spill.
The Yeosu Coast Guard announced Monday that about 164,000 liters of oil have leaked into the waters, in contrast to the 800 liters initially estimated in the hours immediately after the naval accident. Later, it raised the figure to 10,000 liters. The disclosure could spark controversy over whether the maritime police attempted to deliberately downplay the scale of the incident.
According to the coast guard, the oil spill occurred at 9:30 a.m. Friday, when a Singapore-registered oil tanker veered left off its route and suddenly accelerated while trying to dock at a pier operated by GS Caltex. The 160,000-ton ship crashed into three floating bridges supporting pipelines with two pilots aboard, causing the oil inside the pipe to leak into the sea.
Given that a tanker usually decelerates when approaching a pier, investigators are considering possibility of human error as the main cause of the accident. But there could be more behind the accident than human error, considering that the pilots are veterans with more than 20 years of experience.
The most worrisome aspect of the latest oil spill is whether the coast guard may have failed in its initial responses, given its inaccurate initial estimate of the quantity of leaked oil. The authorities claim that nearly 70 percent of the spilt oil was cleaned up through days of containment work undertaken by personnel and response vessels, but the risk of environmental destruction remains very real, taking into account that oil slicks have been spotted as far away as 10 kilometers from the crash site. That’s why the coast guard and other government units should do their utmost to minimize the damage.
It’s pathetic to see the recurrence of similar oil spills despite warnings about their disastrous ecological impacts. The latest incident brings to mind the 1995 Sea Prince spill in which the Korean oil tanker ran aground during a typhoon, spilling about 5,000 tons of oil and causing a loss of 150 billion won.
No less frustrating is that Oceans and Fisheries Minister Yoon Jin-sook was negligent in her duty as chief of maritime affairs by belatedly visiting the scene of the spill ― more than a day after the accident occurred ― though Prime Minister Chung Hong-won issued special instructions for the cleanup.
The most important thing is for the government to map out fundamental guidelines to prevent the recurrence of similar incidents in the future. GS Caltex, for its part, must be aggressive in addressing the plight of local residents, considering that many of them make their living collecting clams and other marine produce from the mud flats.