Storms Peril Tanker, Could Release 60 Million Gallons
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RABAT, Morocco — Storms building up in the Atlantic threaten to break a crippled Iranian supertanker in two and release nearly 60 million gallons of crude oil into the sea off the Moroccan coast, official sources said today.
The threatened disaster would be six times larger than the Exxon Valdez spill in Alaska last March and the sixth biggest ever in the world. The Amoco Cadiz, responsible for the fifth largest, dumped about 65 million gallons off France in 1978.
The weather here is expected to worsen in the next 24 hours, building a sea swell that would make floating booms useless in efforts to save Moroccan vacation beaches and fishing grounds from serious pollution.
About 20 million gallons of oil have already poured from the listing 284,632-ton Kharg-5 tanker, holed by fire and explosions 15 days ago, and crippled with jammed steering.
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