Great Barrier Reef threatened by Chinese oil spill
The Chinese coal ship Shen Neng I is stranded on a shoal with a damaged engine and rudder threatening the wonderful Australian Great Barrier Reef with an oil spill. Salvagers struggled on Monday to stop the ship breaking up and spilling hundreds of tons of oil and thousands of tons of coal.
Although only a small amount of the 975 tons of fuel oil on board has so far leaked, Australian officials have warned the ship is unable to move off the shoal without assistance. International salvage firm Svitzer has been engaged and has attempted to use tugs to stabilize the vessel, but the head of the government agency overseeing the operation said on Monday the ship was still moving on the reef.
The ship was a "ticking environmental time bomb," Gilly Llewellyn, director of conservation for the World Wide Fund for Nature. "We would potentially be looking at an environmental disaster," Llewellyn said." It would be an extremely large spill."
The ship was offcourse and traveling at full speed when it hit, Australian officials have said. If it broke up as feared, environmentalists said the effects could be devastating. Rescue officials have said the ship will require a long and careful salvage operation, expected to take weeks.
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