Workers stop oil tanker leak @ Seoul

Thousands of troops and volunteers struggled Sunday to clear a thick layer of pungent crude oil off South Korea's stricken southwest coast after the country's worst ever oil spill.

The crew of the 147,000-tonne Hebei Spirit have finally stopped it leaking, officials said, pumping the remaining oil out of the last of three containers holed by a barge in a collision last Friday.

But with over 10,000 tons of crude oil spilled into the Yellow Sea and now polluting a long stretch of coastline, most of the damage has been done.

A state of disaster has been declared in the region where beaches and farms dependent on the sea have been badly affected around Taean, 120 kilometres (75 miles) southwest of Seoul. More than 6,600 people, backed by 90 boats and six planes, fought to remove oil drifting at sea or washing onto beaches.

Booms were set up to contain the oil, and skimmers were working to collect and remove slicks from the water surface. On the beaches, police, troops and volunteers carried buckets of sludge to huge rubber pools from which they scooped black, oil-mixed sand into sacks.

Three of five oil containers on the Hong Kong-registered tanker were holed in the collision. Two had been emptied by Saturday, and the third was pumped dry overnight.
The tanker was berthed five miles off Mallipo, near waters designated as a national park, when it was struck by the barge. The barge floated free and slammed into the port side, tearing three holes in the tanker's hull, when a wire linking it to a tug broke in rough seas.

This stretch of coastline is one of Asia's largest wetland areas, providing important habitat for migrating birds.