Companies Swap Accusations over Oil Spill
Defense lawyers from rival companies wrangled over who was to blame for South Korea's worst oil spill as the trial resumed of five people accused of negligence, according to AFP. The owners of the Hong Kong-registered supertanker Hebei Spirit denied responsibility at the third hearing of the case in Seosan, 90 kilometres (54 miles) southwest of Seoul. They insisted through lawyers that the spill on December 7 was attributable to irresponsible actions by the operators of a Samsung Heavy Industries barge, according to Yonhap news agency. The barge carrying a construction crane snapped its cables to two tugs in rough seas and rammed the anchored 147,000-ton supertanker, holing it in three places and spilling 10,900 tons of crude.
Five Indicted in S. Korea Spill
South Korean prosecutors have reportedly charged five people, including the captain of a Hong Kong-registered tanker, following the nation's worst oil spill last month, according to an AFP report. Last month a drifting barge smashed into the 147,000-ton Hebei Spirit on December 7, holing it in three places and spilling 10,900 tonnes of crude. The barge owned by Samsung Heavy Industries had snapped its towline to two tugboats inThe tanker, owned by Hebei Shipping, a Hong Kong corporation, was anchored at the time. Its captain and mate were indicted but not detained for failing to follow safety orders from navigation authorities, the prosecutors said. (Source: AFP)
