More than two tonnes of fuel have leaked in the past few days from the Takeo Maru, which sank in 1979 off the sea port of Shakhtersk on Russia's far eastern island Sakhalin, Valentina Mirnaya, a spokeswoman for Sakhalin rescue and emergencies department, said.

The leaked oil is floating in the Tatar strait and heading for the coast, the spokeswoman said, as quoted by the ITAR-TASS news agency.

With up to 300 tonnes of fuel oil remaining inside the sunken tanker, the Takeo Maru is an ecological bomb that jeopardises Russia's Pacific coastline, she said.

Around 40 litres (nine gallons) of fuel are believed to be leaking from the ship every 24 hours, and divers who arrived in the area Friday are examining the situation.

A similar oil leak from the Takeo Maru occurred in May 2001 but was plugged by divers injecting special plasters into the ship hull.

It is believed the plasters may have given way, giving rise to a fuel leak from the engine room.

Experts have warned of an ecological catastrophe unless authorities pump the oil out off the decades-old wreck, said to have been carrying at least 30 tonnes of diesel fuel and more than 250 tonnes of fuel oil when it sank.

TERRA.WIRE