A Taiwanese-owned tanker collided with a stationary Vietnam-ese tanker while entering an anchorage off Vietnam's southern coast early on Friday, causing a spillage of several thousand tonnes of diesel oil, officials said.
Truong Thanh Cong, director of the Science, Technology and Environment Department in Ba Ria-Vung Tau province, told Reuters the Vietnamese tanker, Petrolimex 01, was anchored 3km offshore when it was hit by the Liberian-registered Formosa One early on Friday.
He said the impact had damaged a compartment of Petrolimex 01, which is owned by the state-run Vietnam National Import-Export Corp (Petrolimex), and had caused a "serious" oil spill, but nobody was hurt in the accident.
"The oil spill has had serious impact on the environment," Cong said.
An official at Ho Chi Minh City-based Vietnamese shipping agent Hai Au, which handles services for Formosa One, said the tanker is owned by Taiwan's Formosa Plastics but registered in Liberia and was carrying a Chinese crew.
The accident happened in a bay off Vung Tau, which is about 120km southeast of Ho Chi Minh City. The spill was about 40km from the nearest tourist beach.
An official of the Vung Tau port authority said Formosa One, carrying 20,000 tonnes of diesel oil collided into Petrolimex 01, which was carrying 19,000 tonnes of diesel oil, on Thursday.
"The spill is estimated at several thousand tonnes -- more serious than we expected," he said. "Now it has affected Vung Tau beach and hit shrimp farms along the coast."
He said local authorities and the Vietnam-Russia joint venture, Vietsovpetro, were working to contain the spill.
Cong said the authorities were detaining the Formosa One and investigations were underway to establish the cause of the accident as well as to assess the damage.
The port official said the damage assessment and environmental work would take a long time.
"It will take several days to assess damage and clean up the spillage since the oil has partly evaporated or spread and soaked into the sandy beach of a nearby island," he said.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique