South Korea's Oil Spill - 그 때 태안 앞 바다

South Korea's Oil Spill - 그 때 태안 앞 바다
South Korea's Oil Spill Unprecedented A black stream of crude oil leaks from the Hong Kong-registered tanker Hebei Spirit on Dec. 8, 2007, the day after it collided with a barge off Taean, about 106 miles (170km) southwest of Seoul. The accident sent 10,000 tons of crude into the waters off South Korea — the worst oil spill in the nation's history Black Tide The government declared a "state of disaster" as crude oil started to wash ashore early Saturday morning, and residents started to help clean up a popular swimming beach in Taean Everybody's Problem Police help shovel oil off Mallipo Beach, an area of the nation's shoreline that draws tourists to its picturesque beaches and relies on aquaculture as a local industry Grounded A bird coated in oil from the spill sits on Mallipo beach on Dec. 8 while the Coast Guard's effort to keep more oil from washing ashore played out at sea. The area is on the migration path for birds such as mallard ducks and snipe A National Priority Police and volunteers continued cleaning up the beach on Sunday, Dec. 9, as Seoul deployed over 100 ships and thousands of troops to help in the effort to clean up the spill that has left the stench of oil hanging over the area Losing Battle Residents struggle to clean up a beach still slick with oil on Sunday, Dec. 9. The affected area is about the third of the size of the notorious 1989 Exxon Valdez spill in Alaska Group Effort Local residents use baskets to remove dense crude oil from Mallipo beach on Sunday, Dec. 9. The area's some 64,000 inhabitants rely on the money that comes in every year from the 20 million tourists who visit these beaches. Heavy Lifting Days after the spill, police were still filling bags with oil on the South Korean coast. one person dons a mask against the stink of petroleum, which witnesses have called overpowering Black Waves Oil-stained waves roll past a breakwater on Maipo Beach in Taean on Saturday, the day after the spill. In the days preceding the spill, some local fishermen had reportedly been hauling in up to $5,400 worth of crab a day from the area's rich waters. Footsteps in the Sand Firefighters use sheets of absorbent paper to soak up the oil washing ashore. By the end of the weekend, over 7,500 volunteers were taking part in the cleanup Dirty Work Volunteers pour collected crude into buckets on Sunday on Mallipo beach. State of Emergency South Korean soldiers line up to shovel crude from the beach in Mallipo on Monday, Dec. 10. Four days after the Hebei Spirit started to leak, South Korea was tallying the disaster's environmental and economic costs. A Ruined Coast An aerial view of the oil's reach along Mallipo Beach on Sunday, Dec. 9. "We have no choice but to leave this place," a restaurant owner told the Associated Press. "This ocean is dead." Black Gold The sun burnishes the black water as workers scoop oil up in buckets over the weekend.