The Hebei Spirit Oil Spill, 2007
- Date and time: 7 a.m. on December 7, 2007
- Place: 5 miles northwest of Mallipo beach, Taean County
- Cause of accident: a crane barge collided with an oil tanker
- Spilled oil: 12,547kL
On December 7, 2007, around 7 a.m., a floating crane belonging to the Samsung Heavy Industries collided with the Hong Kong-registered crude oil tanker Hebei Spirit at a location 5 miles northwest off the coast of Mallipo in Taean-gun(county), Chungcheongnam-do(South Chungcheong Province) in the Republic of Korea. At the time of collision, the oil tanker was anchored to avoid the winter storm.
This accident resulted in the spill of approximately 12,547kL (~10,900 tons) of crude oil into the waters of Taean. The collision punctured three of the five tanks aboard the Hebei Spirit resulting in the leakage of oil from these three tanks. The size of the holes in the three tanks was as follows: 30 × 3 cm in tank No.1, 160 × 10 cm tank No.3, and 200 × 160 cm in tank No.5.The oils spilled were UAE Upper Zakum, Kuwait Export, and Iranian Heavy Crude, respectively. Most of the oil from tank number 3 and 5 was spilled out within approximately 4.5 hours, owing to the large size of the holes formed. However, the oil spill from tank No.1, with a relatively smaller hole, was stopped on the night of December 8.
The spilled oil was rapidly extended over several hundred kilometers of coastlines during 30 days by northwesterly winds and currents. The oil first reached the coast (Gureumpo, Mallipo) of Taean County at 9:10 p.m., 14 hours after the accident. An area covering 70 km off the coast of Taean County was contaminated just four days after the accident, by a thick layer of oil. The oil finally reached the western coastline of the Korean peninsula with a range of spread of 1,052 km or 3,000 ha including Chungnam, Jeonbuk, Jeonnam, and as far as Jeju Island.
This accident was the largest oil spill ever in Korea. It caused pollution to an area roughly 1,052 km off the seashore of the North Jeolla and South Chungcheong Province, which includes Taean Coast National Park. In addition, the accident caused serious damages to 3,000 ha of fisheries, aquafarms, and swimming beaches.
The region that was affected the most by this accident was Taean-gun, and 63,939 residents of two towns and six townships within Taean-gun lost their primary means of livelihood, aqua farming, fishing, and tourism (as of 2007). From the time of the accident to July 4th, 2008, the cumulative total of the number of people who participated in the land-based clean-up activities was 2,122,296, which included 556,343 residents, 1,226,730 volunteers, 152,695 military personnel, 32,356 police, 17,394 coast guards, 6,663 members of KOEM, 53,431 corporate employees, and 76,684 members of various local authorities.
The residents participated in the clean-up activities the day after the accident, December 8, while volunteers participated two days after the accident, December 9. During the initial stage of the clean-up activities, the work was performed without any protective gear such as protective clothing, protective gloves, or masks. The workers were exposed to the crude oil through the respiratory tract and the skin.