EU, UN experts to help combat South Korean oil spill
Environmental experts from the European Union and the United Nations
were heading to South Korea to help battle the country’s worst oil
spill, UN spokeswoman Elisabeth Byrs said in Geneva.
Byrs, of the UN Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA),
said the four experts from each body would evaluate the needs of the
South Koreans and if necessary arrange for more equipment to be sent to
the scene.
She said the South Korean govenment had requested the aid to help
disperse a huge oil slick and clean up tourist beaches and scores of
marine farms already fouled by the crude oil.
A supertanker holed by a drifting barge spilled some 10,500 tonnes of
oil into the Yellow Sea on December 7. Four decontamination experts from
the US Coast Guard have already arrived to help while equipment has been
supplied by China, Japan and Singapore.
Geneva, Sunday, AFP |