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Finland fights oil spill in Baltic
23rd April 2003
Planet Ark - Reuters News Service
HELSINKI FINLAND: - Finland sent a clean-up ship on the weekend to tackle an oil slick locked in the ice of the Baltic Sea, officials said.
The spill - stretching almost one kilometre (0.6 miles) in length and 400 metres wide - was spotted off Finland's southern coast, east of Porvoo.
The source was unknown, but Finnish Environmental Institute spokesman Erkki Mykkanen said the oil was probably dumped by passing ships.
"Many vessels were stuck waiting for ice breakers earlier this year. We will take samples to see whether it's from one or more ships," Mykkanen told Reuters.
"The oil is stuck between blocks of ice and is not moving anywhere," he said, adding a clean-up vessel would arrive in the area by midnight.
Environmentalists say oil spills in the shallow Baltic Sea are particularly harmful because the severe climate in the region means nature is slow to recover. Oil transit volumes are growing due to increasing Russian exports.
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