South Korea’s worst ever oil spill spread along a pristine coastal region Monday as the government came under fire amid charges it acted too slowly to limit the disaster. Almost 9,000 troops, police and volunteers armed with shovels and buckets struggled to clean up the huge slick. But officials said it would deal a heavy blow to tourism and oyster and abalone farms in the area. The crude oil had so far hit 160 marine farms out of a total of 445 in the area under threat, said Cho Kyu-Sung, an official of Taean county 90 kilometres southwest of Seoul. “The damage will be enormous if you include long-term environmental expenses,” he told AFP. Some 140 ships and five planes were helping, but the Coast Guard said the slick has already hit 50 kilometres of coastline, and more oil was expected to come ashore. Park Myung-Jae, home affairs minister, said four townships would be declared a disaster zone, making them eligible for extra help and compensation. Northwest winds were quickly pushing the slick south along the coast, said Lee Jae-Hak, of the Korea Ocean Research and Development Institute. Lee said it may take months or a year to remove oil from the land surface, “but it will take four or five years to remove chemicals and other pollutants.” About 10,500 tons of crude oil leaked into the Yellow Sea when a drifting barge carrying a construction crane smashed into an oil tanker Friday. The barge’s cable to a tugboat had snapped during rough weather before it holed the 147,000-ton Hong Kong-registered Hebei Spirit in three places.
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