Irish authorities said on Tuesday they were monitoring a major oil spill that is drifting toward the Irish coast — the largest spill in the waters around Ireland in a decade.
The Irish Marine Department said the oil slick was discovered close to where a Russian aircraft carrier was refueling in the Celtic Sea between western Britain and the southern coast of Ireland.
The department said on Tuesday it was too early to predict how much of the spill, thought to be around 500 tonnes (3,750 barrels), would come ashore. The oil slick is almost 5km long and 5km wide.
Molly Walsh, a spokeswoman for the environmental group Friends of the Earth, said the spill could seriously damage marine life.
Irish authorities learned about the spill on Saturday through surveillance carried out by the European Maritime Safety Agency in Lisbon, Portugal. Irish military aircraft flew over the area and saw the Russian aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov, a Russian oil tanker, and a Russian oceangoing tug near the slick.
Russia’s chief of general staff General Nikolai Marakov confirmed that a Russian aircraft carrier had refueled in the area but denied there had been any problems.
“We have no reason to think that anything went wrong during refueling,” he told reporters.
The Press Association, the British news agency, said a Russian destroyer, a British destroyer, an Irish Naval vessel and a Russian aircraft carrier were at the site of the spill off the west coast of Ireland.
Ireland’s Department of Transport said it expects the slick to reach the southern coast of Ireland in about 16 days. It said some of the oil would evaporate and most of the rest will likely develop into tar balls — small, sticky patches of oil that often wash ashore.
Super Typhoon Kong-rey is the largest cyclone to impact Taiwan in 27 years, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said today. Kong-rey’s radius of maximum wind (RMW) — the distance between the center of a cyclone and its band of strongest winds — has expanded to 320km, CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張竣堯) said. The last time a typhoon of comparable strength with an RMW larger than 300km made landfall in Taiwan was Typhoon Herb in 1996, he said. Herb made landfall between Keelung and Suao (蘇澳) in Yilan County with an RMW of 350km, Chang said. The weather station in Alishan (阿里山) recorded 1.09m of
STORM’S PATH: Kong-Rey could be the first typhoon to make landfall in Taiwan in November since Gilda in 1967. Taitung-Green Island ferry services have been halted Tropical Storm Kong-rey is forecast to strengthen into a typhoon early today and could make landfall in Taitung County between late Thursday and early Friday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 2pm yesterday, Kong-Rey was 1,030km east-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), the nation’s southernmost point, and was moving west at 7kph. The tropical storm was packing maximum sustained winds of 101kph, with gusts of up to 126 kph, CWA data showed. After landing in Taitung, the eye of the storm is forecast to move into the Taiwan Strait through central Taiwan on Friday morning, the agency said. With the storm moving
NO WORK, CLASS: President William Lai urged people in the eastern, southern and northern parts of the country to be on alert, with Typhoon Kong-rey approaching Typhoon Kong-rey is expected to make landfall on Taiwan’s east coast today, with work and classes canceled nationwide. Packing gusts of nearly 300kph, the storm yesterday intensified into a typhoon and was expected to gain even more strength before hitting Taitung County, the US Navy’s Joint Typhoon Warning Center said. The storm is forecast to cross Taiwan’s south, enter the Taiwan Strait and head toward China, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The CWA labeled the storm a “strong typhoon,” the most powerful on its scale. Up to 1.2m of rainfall was expected in mountainous areas of eastern Taiwan and destructive winds are likely
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday at 5:30pm issued a sea warning for Typhoon Kong-rey as the storm drew closer to the east coast. As of 8pm yesterday, the storm was 670km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻) and traveling northwest at 12kph to 16kph. It was packing maximum sustained winds of 162kph and gusts of up to 198kph, the CWA said. A land warning might be issued this morning for the storm, which is expected to have the strongest impact on Taiwan from tonight to early Friday morning, the agency said. Orchid Island (Lanyu, 蘭嶼) and Green Island (綠島) canceled classes and work
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