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Seoul seeking arrests after country's worst oil spill

South Korea's coastguard has applied for court permission to arrest the captains of the vessels that collided early this month, causing the country's worst oil spill, an official said yesterday.

Human error was probably to blame for the accident, when a crane mounted on a Samsung-owned barge punched holes in a Hong Kong-registered tanker, spilling more than 10,500 tonnes of crude oil that washed up on west coast beaches and blackened a nature reserve, local media said.

"We sought arrest warrants for the four captains yesterday [Thursday]," a Taean Coastguard official said.

The four are the captain of the Hebei Spirit tanker, the captains of two tugboats towing the barge and the person responsible for the sea-bound crane.

A maritime official said yesterday that the country planned to bring forward a ban on visits by single-hulled tankers.

Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries deputy director Lee Ki-sang said South Korea originally planned to phase out visits by those vessels by 2015, but it is now considering advancing the deadline by up to five years.
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