Oil Spill May Be Worst in Korea's History

The oil tanker that slammed into another vessel and spilled 66,000 barrels of crude oil may have caused the largest spill in Korea's history, according to the New York Times. Bloomberg put the total at 78,750 barrels, and said it was not only Korea's largest spill, but the largest anywhere in the world in nearly five years.

Crude oil is less toxic than refined petroleum products, but it is sticky, long-lasting and likely to cause significant harm to wildlife that comes into contact with it, particularly water birds which can become coated, preventing flight and destroying insulation. If birds aren't cared for, they are certainly to die.

The spill comes just weeks after two significant oil spills, one in San Francisco Bay and one in the Black Sea.

The ship leaking in Korean waters had a single hull, according to Bloomberg. The United States set in motion a ban on single-hulled oil freighters in 1990, in response to the Exxon Valdez disaster, which was about three times bigger than the Korean spill.

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