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Looking Back on the M/T Hebei Spirit Oil Spill 12 years Later
DescriptionThe payment for the damage compensation caused by the Hebei Spirit oil spill incident was finally terminated 12 years after the incident. It occurred on December 7, 2007, when the M.T. Hebei Spirit (146,848GT) spilled approximately 10,900 tonnes of crude oil in front of Taean County on the west coast of the Korean Peninsula. It was the largest oil spill incident in the history of South Korea and the government declared the region as a Special Disaster Zone immediately.

As a direct result of the oil spill, the sea in front of Taean County became heavily polluted. Some of the spilled oil moved southward under the influence of the seasonal wind and in early January 2008, tarballs were even found in Jeju Island, the southernmost part of Korea. The spill contaminated 70 kilometers of the coastline and more than 100 islands, drifting for over a month. The fishery industries on the west coast suffered seriously. Over 120,000 claims were submitted. The South Korean government responded quickly and over a million volunteers came to the place of the incident to clean contaminants on the beach manually.

The governmental support, volunteers, and national donations were a great help for the affected people to recover. It should be remembered, however, that the responses of oil pollution incidents will eventually be terminated by compensation, which relies on the IOPC Funds’ compensation system, and it requires objective proof of damage for proper execution.
Event Type
Paper
TimeWednesday, May 15th8:20am - 8:40am CDT
Location275-277
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Response