The Central Weather Bureau issued the first typhoon warning of the year yesterday, half a month before the typhoon season officially begins.
As Tropical Storm Cimaron approached the southern tip of the country, concerns were rising over a Greek cargo ship which is still stuck off the coast of Kenting National Park and the oil and iron ore remaining in its hull.
The MV Amorgos, a Greek cargo ship, spilled 1,150 tonnes of oil into coastal waters near the Lungkeng Ecological Preservation Area (
The ship's agent, however, has hired a local salvage company to remove the remaining 200 tonnes fuel oil and 60,000 tonnes of iron ore from the ship. However, removal of the oil from the ship by the salvage company only began on June 9.
The head of the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA), Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌), arrived in Kenting last night along with members of an emergency task force, an EPA spokesman told the Taipei Times. Hau plans to take a ship out to the Amorgos early this morning, barring weather conditions, to inspect the ship before the storm makes landfall.
The bureau has forecast that the Hengchun peninsula, the south-eastern and northern areas of the country and the eastern coast will be hit with intense rains and strong winds as Cimaron approaches.
The Central Weather Bureau issued a land and sea warning last evening. By 9pm Cimaron was 390km south southwest of Oluanpi, the southernmost point of Taiwan, and was moving in a north-northeastern direction at a speed of 13kph, a weather bureau report said.
Weather forecasters yesterday also warned of possible landslides throughout Taiwan which could be triggered by the storm's torrential rains.
The failure by the EPA to speedily handle the Amorgos shipwreck in January and the subsequent oil spill led to the removal of its former head Lin Jun-yi (
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