1,000 tonnes (1.3 million liters) of heavy fuel oil on burning ship near the South Pole

I ran across this article on Treehugger today, and thought I'd share it with you. It seems that a Japanese whaling ship is currently adrift and on fire near the South Pole. According to New Zealand, there is a danger to some 250,000 pairs of breeding penguins and other local wildlife. The captain of the ship has stayed aboard, along with 30 members of the original crew. The crew states that the fire is underneath the deck, above the engine room. They have "contained" the fire to this area of the ship and locked it down to keep it from spreading, although the do admit that it not completely under control (there was "still some potential" that the fire could flare up again) at this time.

Whaling does not have anything to do with this site, but any possible oil spill is something that should be kept an eye on. We have spoken about the disasters that an oil spill can have on the environment before, which is why oil drilling and transportation is such a serious matter. Let's hope this one turns out the best it can.

[Source: Treehugger]