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Rep. of Korea: Hebei Spirit Oil Spill - Dec 2007

Statut
Passé
Pays
République de Corée
Types de catastrophes
Catastrophe technologique

On the morning of 7 December 2007, an 11,800-ton crane-carrying barge belonging to Samsung Heavy Industries collided with the Hebei Spirit, a 146,000-ton Hong Kong-registered super tanker that was at anchor 10 km northwest of Mallipo, South Chungcheong Province, RoK. The crane punctured three holes in the ship's port side cargo tanks, causing a leakage of about 10,500 tons of crude oil into the sea. (IFRC, 17 Dec 2007)

As of 14 December, 9,225 metric tonnes of oily waste (sand, oil, rags to absorb oil) and a further 1,528 metric tonnes of oil/water mixture, which contained an estimated 550 metric tonnes of oil was collected. Approximately 200,000 people, mostly volunteers, were involved in the clean up. Substantial negative economic impacts were reported as a result of the spill, including effects on the livelihoods of up to 27,000 aquaculture workers. Over 90 per cent of fish farms in the affected area were reported to be impacted. Approximately 160 kilometres of coastline was affected as of 17 December. The Government of RoK declared a state of disaster on the first day of the incident and immediately launched an emergency operation. (OCHA, 17 Dec 2007)