Early in the morning of 19th December 1989, Iranian tanker KHARK 5, carrying 280,000 tonnes of Iranian heavy crude oil, was damaged in a storm, exploded and caught fire approximately 150 nautical
On 17th April 1992 the tanker KATINA P was disabled by a freak wave while transiting the Mozambique Channel. It was carrying 66,700 tonnes of heavy fuel oil en-route from Venezuela to the United Arab
In cases of large spills, the source of stranded oil may be obvious, but the question of identification frequently arises when a small amount of oil is involved and compensation is sought for damage
There is always a balance to be struck between the different sensitivities and priorities on a shoreline when trying to decide the degree of cleaning which should be carried out after an oil spill
