According to the reports, the cargo ship ran aground in the waters of the northern part of Penghu County on Feb. 25 while a Taiwanese vessel ran aground on a shallow reef about 250m offshore of New Taipei City’s Shimen District on Thursday last week. An environmental group reported a small oil leak from the cargo ship in order to raise awareness of the environmental disaster.
Hence, Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) has started with the operations to remove the oil from the ships. An estimate from EPA stated that it would take two days to remove the 145 tonnes of diesel fuel from the cargo ship and 12 days to remove the 407 tonnes of heavy crude oil from the Taiwanese ship.
Department of Water Quality Director Yeh Chun-hung said that bad weather had been preventing authorities from removing the oil from the ships, but yesterday’s clearer weather allowed authorities to begin the long-delayed operations.
The EPA said that it would continue to monitor the sea, the vessels and removal operations with a surveillance drone.
Source: Taipei Times
