South Korean volunteers work together to cleanup the oil spill.
From: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/10/world/asia/10skorea.html
By CHOE SANG-HUNThe oil spill happened on Friday morning when a collision occurred between a crane-carrying barge and the Hebei Spirit, a Hong Kong-registered supertanker. When they slammed, the vessel punched three holes into its hull; the tanker was at anchor and carrying 260,000 tons of crude oil. Although none of the ship was sinking, it spilled an estimated 10,500 tons of crude oil before the last of the three holes was plugged on Sunday.
It is an environmental disaster for local residents. Thousands of fishermen, soldiers, government personnel, local residents and volunteers were on Mallipo Beach to clean up the oil spill on Sunday. The Coast Guard vessels established oil fences into the ocean and use chemicals to break it up. The oil started to hit the beaches, including Mallipo where is near Taean County. Mallipo is home to rich wildlife, oysters, migrating birds and fish farm. Millions of tourists go there to enjoy the summer each year. Moon Hong-chol, a resident in Taean said, “Tourists are canceling resort reservations. I think we are finished.” He despaired for the area with such pollution. A lot of damage is occurring. When the oil sank to the sea bottom, it will cause serious harm to the organisms live there and the ecosystem will destroy. Even some of them might survive; they are not able to sell to the market for a long time.
The best thing is that there is no more spilling in the area. However, it will take at least two months for Korean people to complete the cleanup.
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