Salvagers Board Oil Tanker Off Sumatra
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SINGAPORE — Salvage experts boarded a leaking supertanker Friday about 100 miles off northern Sumatra and secured the burning ship to a tug to stop it from drifting, a spokesman for the shipowner said.
Light crude oil poured from one ruptured tank, but Singaporean and Malaysian officials said fears of an environmental disaster had receded because the fuel was easily dispersed and had spilled far from shore.
The light crude oil formed a slick two miles long and 220 yards wide.
Other tugs battled flames on the port side of the 254,000-ton Maersk Navigator. The salvage specialists planned to spend the night on board, the spokesman said.
Seas were high, but winds were diminishing.
The spill began Thursday when the Danish tanker, carrying 78 million gallons of crude oil, collided with the empty Japanese tanker Sanko Honour about 60 miles off the northern tip of the Indonesian island of Sumatra.
There were fears earlier that the large cargo would pollute the coastline in Indonesia, Thailand and Malaysia. The area has mangrove forests.
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