Huge Oil Spill News

Peruvian President Pedro Castillo declared an environmental emergency on Thursday as clean-up teams struggled to contain a huge oil spill at the country's biggest refinery, after rogue waves rocked a ship unloading crude there.The spill, blamed on unusual swells caused by a volcanic eruption thousands of miles away in Tonga on Sunday, has dirtied waters and beaches along Peru's Pacific coast, with dead birds and seals washing up on shore."We are at a critical moment in environmental matters," said Castillo, before signing the emergency decree on one of the beaches hit by the spill.

The captain of the tanker Erika, which sank off France's west coast in December causing a huge oil spill, has said crews had to work to such tight budgets that safety standards could not always be met. The ship's captain, Karun Mathir, said many shipowners were obsessed with cutting costs "to the point of pushing crews through safety and endurance thresholds". "There are certain things that nobody dares to say, but the job has changed a lot, everything is going too fast, everything is dominated by money," the 36-year-old captain said. The Erika's crew was winched to safety when the vessel split apart and sank in stormy seas on Dec. 12.

The captain of the tanker Erika, which sank off France's west coast in December causing a huge oil spill, said crews had to work to such tight budgets that safety standards could not always be met. "There are certain things that nobody dares to say, but the job has changed a lot, everything is going too fast, everything is dominated by money," the 36-year-old captain said. The Erika's crew was winched to safety when the vessel split apart and sank in stormy seas on December 12. The spill of around half its 25,000-ton cargo of fuel oil devastated 400 km (250 miles) of coastline, killed or maimed 300,000 sea birds and hurt fishing and tourism. The accident has since sparked widespread calls to tighten international maritime standards.