South Korea Fights Oil Spill

South Korea deployed more than 100 ships and thousands of troops yesterday to clean up the worst oil spill in its history, which has blackened beaches, coated birds in tar and cast a foul smell over a nature reserve.

The slick has washed up in an area spanning 17 kms of the west coast, about 100 km southwest of Seoul, that is home to popular tourist beaches, a national park and oyster beds. The spill is threatening to become a major environmental disaster.

The leak was patched early on Sunday, it said.