Oily seas

Slick damage: spelling doom fo (Credit: PTI)WITH yet another, oil spill, this time off
the coast of south Wales in the UK, the
world's oceans may soon contain more
oil rather than water! The recent Oil spill
occured when an oil tanker - Sea
Empress - ran aground ds it was enter-
ing the estuary at Milford Haven, West
Wales, spilling nearly 6,000 tonnes (t) of
oil into the sea on February 15.

Massive anti-pollution measures
were immediately enforced to contain
the spillage which included dropping of
booms and specialised air
crafts with spraying equipment. While there were no
human @asualties, sea bird
colonies and the grey seal
population in the islands of
Skokholm and Skomer,
situated close to the site of
the accident, could be
imperilled.

A total of 140,000 t of
North Sea oil was aboard
the tanker when the mishap
took place. Several stor rage
tanks took the impact
which resulted in their
breaching.