Taipei, March 31 (CNA) Eight containers carrying toxic materials will be removed by April 3 from a container ship that ran aground off Taiwan's northern coast three weeks ago, the ship's owner said Thursday.
A crane vessel left Kaohsiung the previous afternoon and was expected to arrive at the scene Friday morning to remove the containers, T.S. Lines Co. (德翔海運) said.
It said workers have been working over the past few days to pump out heavy oil and fuel from the "T.S. Taipei" and that the work is expected to be completed by April 1.
The ship ran aground March 10 in waters off Shimen in New Taipei. Battered by rough seas, the stranded vessel began breaking apart March 24, leaking substantial amounts of oil into the sea, creating a heavily polluted area within a 500-meter radius of the ship and a slick stretching as far as five kilometers.
Also Thursday, the Fisheries Agency said the results of tests on 60 fish samples collected from waters in the neighboring Tamsui, Jinshan, Wanli and Keelung areas indicate that the marine life there has not been polluted, and it urged the public not to be worried.
The Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) said Wednesday that it will finish cleaning up the pollution caused by the ship within two months.
(By Wang Chao-yu, Yang Shu-min and Y.F. Low)
ENDITEM/J
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/rsscna/EngNews/~3/Cm0vCsfU1NA/201603310022.aspx
