Contamination from Iranian tanker spill could get much worse, China says
State Oceanic Administration says a recently spotted slick might indicate leakage of extremely toxic bunker fuel
Bunker fuel may now be leaking from the Iranian oil tanker that sank in the East China Sea last Sunday, Beijing said, underlining fears for contamination from the world’s worst oil ship disaster in decades.
In a statement issued late on Thursday, China’s State Oceanic Administration (SOA) said several previously unreported slicks had been spotted by planes, vessels and satellites near the disaster site. One of them, seen 2½km (1½ miles) east of the wreck site about 6am on Thursday, might indicate leakage of extremely toxic bunker fuel, the heavy oil used in ship engines.
It remains unclear how much bunker fuel was left aboard the tanker, the Sanchi, when it sank. Experts estimated it might have been carrying about 1,000 tonnes (8,450 barrels) at the time it collided with the CF Crystal grain freighter.
Bunker fuel is noxious to marine organisms and difficult to remove from the sea once spilled, unlike the condensate fuel – an extremely light form of oil – that was being shipped by the Sanchi at the time of the collision.