Dec 6, 2007 11:39 pm US/Eastern
Officials: Oil Spill Off South Korea Coast
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) ―
South
Korea's Coast Guard said Friday that the
amount of oil spilled from a tanker collision was significantly less than
originally estimated, with some 66,043 barrels of crude oil entering the waters
off the country's west coast.
Officials at the Maritime and Fisheries
Ministry had said earlier that about 110,000 barrels had leaked from a Hong Kong-registered
tanker, citing situation reports from the Coast Guards.
Jung Se-hi, a Coast Guard officer, said it
reached the latest figure after obtaining more detailed information.
The accident occurred at around 7:30 a.m. when
a crane-carrying vessel slammed into the 146,000-ton tanker Hebei Spirit in
waters 5 miles off Mallipo beach, about 93 miles southwest of Seoul.
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