[CPEO-MEF] GLOBAL, SHIPS: Japanese WWII tanker leaking oil in Micronesia

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

Japanese Navy tanker sunk in WWII leaking oil in Micronesia

Mainichi Daily News (Japan)
September 20, 2008

Oil has been leaking from a Japanese Navy tanker that sank in the 
Pacific Ocean near Chuuk in Micronesia during World War II, according to 
the U.S.-based Earthwatch Institute. The nongovernmental organization 
(NGO) says it's concerned that the leak has contaminated the coral-rich 
sea off Chuuk, inhabited by a large number of manta rays and sea turtles 
and known as a popular diving spot.

Dr. Bill Jeffery, an Australian marine archeologist, and other experts 
launched a survey on the sea around Chuuk (also known as Truk) with the 
cooperation of local authorities in July. The expedition found in late 
August that oil was leaking from the wreck of the Hoyo Maru, an Imperial 
Japanese Navy oil tanker that was sunk in 1944, and found a 
five-kilometer oil slick on the surface of the sea. The tanker had a 
total capacity of 15,000 kiloliters, but the amount that has leaked and 
how much still remains is unknown.

...

For the entire article, see
http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/news/20080920p2a00m0na016000c.html

--


Lenny Siegel
Executive Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
a project of the Pacific Studies Center
278-A Hope St., Mountain View, CA 94041
Voice: 650/961-8918 or 650/969-1545
Fax: 650/961-8918
<lsiegel@cpeo.org>
http://www.cpeo.org



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