Oil leak from a Chinese ship, which was sunken after colliding with a vessel of the Republic of Korea (ROK) off the shore of northeast China's Lushun City last Thursday, had been brought under control, local maritime authorities said on Monday.  

The Chinese Jingan No. 6 cargo ship collided with the ROK ship "Saehan Galaxy" at around 6:30 a.m. on July 8. The collision, which occurred at 38.21 degree north latitude and 121.23 degree east longitude, caused the Chinese ship sank and one crew member dead, one missing and one seriously injured.

The Chinese ship, with a tonnage of 4,987 and 19 crew aboard, was carrying 6,500 tons of yellow sand, 23 tons of heavy oil, 10 tons of light oil and two tons of lubricating oil.

The leaked oil from the sunken Chinese ship formed a belt two to three nautical miles long and 200 meters wide, and the oil slick is floating in a sea area within a radius of three nautical miles, according to sources with the Maritime Affairs Bureau of Liaoning Province.

Liaoning Provincial Maritime Salvage Center and the Maritime Affairs Bureau of east China's Shandong Province jointly sent five vessels and a group of professionals to the accident site to cleanup the oil using anti-oil agent and oil-absorbing belt.

Experts with local maritime affair bureau said that the leaked oil mainly included light oil, lubricating oil and oil-contaminated water from the cabin, and there was no possibility that there will be further oil leak.

Liaoning Provincial Maritime Salvage Center is still monitoring the sea area near the accident site and is well-prepared to take immediate steps to deal with any possible situation.

(Xinhua News Agency July 13, 2004)