Over 1 million people have rushed to help clean up the country's worst oil spill in the western coastal area as of Thursday, though the affected area is still far from completely recovered, provincial officials said Thursday.
The officials of South Chungcheong province said it may take years and millions more volunteers before the contaminated coasts of Taean County regain their natural beauty, but noted affected residents would not have overcome the worst of the tragedy had it not been for the one million people who came to their rescue.
Environmental experts agreed the conditions in Taean would have been significantly worse with second-hand contamination if the oil had not been removed as quickly as it was.
Over 12,000 kiloliters or 1,900 metric tons of crude oil leaked into the waters off Taean on Dec. 7 when a barge broke loose from a tugboat and punched holes in the Hong Kong-registered tanker Hebei Spirit.