Over 180 tonnes of fuel leak from ship off Russia's Sakhalin island
VLADIVOSTOK, Russia (AFP) Sep 10, 2004 Nearly 190 tonnes of fuel leaked into the Pacific Ocean after a vessel registered in Belgium hit rocks off Russia's island of Sakhalin, the ship's contracting company said Friday.
"The ship held 323 tonnes of diesel fuel and fuel oil, and three tanks, which held 189 tonnes in total, were damaged when the ship hit rocks," Sakhalin Energy company said in a statement.
The hull of the Christopher Columbus sustained two serious fissures after the accident, which occurred in bad weather close to the port of Kholmsk in the south of the island.
The local division of Russia's Green ecological party "considered this as a serious accident, and the damage may yet grow," the division's chairman Andrei Nagibin said.
Poor weather conditions prevented rescuers from containing the oil slick at the time of the accident.
