By Kim Rahn
Staff Reporter
Fishermen and sea farmers in western coastal areas are carefully watching the spread of an oil slick spilled from a tanker in seas off Taean, South Chungcheong Province last Friday, as tidal currents have become stronger.
Experts say the next one to two days will be critical to see whether pollution from the nation's largest-ever oil spill will spread to other western coastal regions.
More than 13,000 soldiers, maritime police, public officials and volunteers continued oil collecting operations Tuesday for the fifth consecutive day, but are still short of manpower and materials.
The slick of 10,500 tons of oil ― estimated by the Korea Coast Guard ― has already reached the mouth of Garorim Bay, the nation's largest fish farming area about 20 kilometers northeast of Taean. It is also feared to expand further northward to nearby Gyeonggi Province.
To the south, the oil is on the verge of contaminating Cheonsu Bay, a migratory birds' haven where 400,000 birds visit every year.
Officials of the coast guard said the current ran strongest to the northeast Tuesday evening. ``The big difference between the rise and fall of the tide may aggravate the spread of the slick,'' a coast guard official said.
Only some 7 percent of the spilled oil has been collected so far, and the operational personnel are short of oil decontamination material such as absorbents. They are asking factories making such materials to boost production.
The coast guard finished transferring the oil remaining in the punctured Hebei Spirit to other tankers, and will move the vessel to Hyundai Oilbank's plant in Daesan in South Chungcheong Province where the ship was originally heading.
In the meantime, both the tanker and the barge involved in the collision are claiming it was the other's fault.
Daesan Regional Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Office warned the two of the impending collision about 50 minutes before the accident, but neither took specific measures.