The Taiwanese cargo ship T.S. Taipei recently broke apart and became stranded on a reef near Shihmen in New Taipei City, causing a massive oil slick. An oil slick from a stricken cargo ship off Taiwan’s north coast could cause “massive” devastation to the area’s sea life, environmentalists warned, as clean-up workers scrambled to contain the leak.
Bad weather is hampering more than 100 workers who are trying to contain the slick after the Taiwanese ship “T.S. Taipei” became stranded on a reef earlier this month off the shore of Shihmen in New Taipei City.
Around 1.9 kilometres (1.18 miles) of coastline has already been polluted since the ship ran aground on March 10 and workers in protective gear were using buckets and solvents Friday to remove oil from the shore.
A salvage operation has been trying to drain the ship’s oil tank, but has been hampered by bad weather.
There are still over 200 tonnes of fuel and 614 cargo containers with machinery, furniture, textiles and other items on board, as well as nine containers containing lubricant and toxic chemicals, said the Taiwan’s Environmental Protection Administration (EPA)
