South Korea yesterday was tallying the environmental and economic cost of the worst oil spill in its history as thousands of workers struggled to protect an area known for its nature reserve and vibrant marine economy.
The slick spread from a very large crude carrier on Friday after it was holed by a barge. Oil has now washed up in an area spanning more than 40 km of the region of Taean on the Korean peninsula's west coast, about 150 km southwest of Seoul.
The region is home to the Taean Haean national park, famous for its sandy beaches popular with tourists, marine farms and oyster beds.
"We don't have an estimate on the cost of the damage yet," a maritime ministry official said by telephone. "The focus now is to minimise the damage."
The government has declared parts of the Taean county "a special disaster area" and will release an initial fund of six billion won ($6.5 million), Minister for Home Affairs Park Myung-jae was quoted as saying by Yonhap news agency.
Some 10,500 tonnes of crude is estimated to have spilled from the Hong Kong-registered Hebei Spirit and the expense of clean-up was expected to far surpass the 96 billion won it cost South Korea to deal with a 1995 spill on the south coast when about that amount of oil was released.
The total cost from the 1989 Exxon Valdez spill in Alaska, which was about three times bigger, was an estimated $9.5 billion including clean-up and settlement of claims. As the slick spread along the coastline, the government raised to 8,800 the number of police, troops and workers in the clean-up efforts. The coast guard had 138 vessels at work, deploying containment fences and oil skimmers.
The clean-up is expected to take more than a month, Maritime Minister Kang Moo-hyun has said. A spokesman for Samsung Heavy Industries, which owned both the barge carrying a large crane that drifted and punched holes in the tanker's hull and the tug boat that was pulling the unpowered vessel, said the company was cooperating with the clean-up but declined to comment on compensation.
Samsung Heavy declined to identify the insurer of the two vessels, but the maritime ministry has said it was Samsung Fire and Marine Insurance.
Shares of Samsung Heavy Industries fell 7.74 per cent to 38,750 won in early yesterday trading against a 0.87 decline of the broader Korea Composite Stock Price Index.
The slick at Mallipo beach, where one of the largest patches of oil had spread, appeared to thin slightly yesterday but the slick is threatening to spread further along the west coast.
Residents of Taean and environmentalists said the spill was a devastating blow to the local fisheries industries and to the nature reserve along the coastline.
"It is an area that is considered to have very great conservation value, particularly for landscapes and with relations to fisheries," said Nial Moores, director of the conservation group Birds Korea.
"It is a massive spill and it's going to have enormous impacts on the local ecology."
The government has come under criticism that its slow response to the spill led to the extensive damage. The maritime ministry said in its initial report on Friday that it would likely take about 48 hours for the slick to reach the coast.
Some of the world's top oil tanker spills
July 19, 1979, Caribbean: Greek oil tanker the Atlantic Empress collides with another vessel spilling 287,000 tonnes of oil into the sea off Tobago, in what is the world's biggest oil spill due to an accident at sea.
March 24, 1989, US: The Exxon Valdez hit rocks in Prince William Sound spilling some 34,000 tonnes (240,000 barrels) of crude oil onto Alaskan shores. The $2.5 billion clean-up effort, and overall cost of $9.5 billion including fines and claims, is the costliest on record.
December 19, 1989, Morocco: After explosions and a fire, Iranian tanker Kharg-5 was abandoned spilling 70,000 tonnes of crude oil, endangering the coast and oyster beds at Oualidia.
December 3, 1992, Spain: Greek tanker Aegean Sea runs aground and breaks in two near La Coruna spilling most of its 80,000 tonne cargo of oil.
January 5, 1993, UK: The tanker Braer hits rocks near the coast of the Shetland Islands shedding its cargo of 85,000 tonnes of crude in the worst oil wreck in British waters for 26 years.
March 31, 1994, UAE: 15,900 tonnes of crude oil leaks into the Arabian Sea after the Panamanian-flagged Seki collided with the UAE tanker Baynunah 10 miles off the UAE port of Fujairah.
February 15, 1996, UK: Liberian-registered Sea Empress hit rocks near Milford Haven, Wales, spilling 40,000 tonnes of oil.
January 2, 1997, Japan: Russian tanker, the Nakhodka, containing some 19,000 tonnes of oil is torn in two in the Sea of Japan causing one of the worst oil spills in Japan's history.
December 13, 1999, France: The stern of the Maltese tanker Erika sinks off the northwest of France after splitting in two. It was carrying 25,000 tonnes of viscous fuel oil.
November 19, 2002, Spain: The Bahamas-flagged tanker Prestige, carrying 77,000 tonnes of fuel oil, sinks off the northwest coast of Spain six days after running into trouble in heavy seas.
July 27, 2003, Pakistan: Oil tanker Tasman Spirit runs aground close to Karachi and splits in two, spilling 28,500 tonnes into the sea. Pakistan demands $1 billion compensation for environmental damage for the disaster, its worst oil spill.
December 7, 2007, South Korea: Hong Kong-registered tanker Hebei Spirit leaks 10,500 tonnes of crude oil into the sea after colliding with a barge in South Korea's worst oil spill.