ISMAILIA - Egypt's Suez Canal authorities have contained an oil spill in the waterway and stopped it moving towards Port Said where it could have damaged ships and equipment, a canal official said on Monday.
The official, who asked not to be identified, said oil that leaked from a damaged Kuwaiti oil tanker last week had been brought under control around 6 km (4 miles) from Port Said at the northern end of the canal.
"We have been able to contain the oil slick ... The foam boom completely stopped the movement of the oil slick towards Port Said," the official said.
He said the slick had broken up into several sections stretching over 5 km and between 5 and 6 metres wide. Some of the oil had been pumped into barges.
The slick was caused when about 10,000 cubic metres of crude oil leaked from a Kuwaiti tanker on Tuesday after it collided with a quay in the canal.
Environmental group Greenpeace has said the spill's presence in the enclosed space of the canal made it easier to clean up.
The official said negotiations had begun between the Kuwaiti firm which owns the tanker and the canal authorities to secure compensation and the release of the vessel without recourse to legal channels.
The spill has not disrupted shipping in the canal, an important international trade route and major source of foreign exchange earnings for the Egyptian government. Egypt nationalised the waterway in 1956.
REUTERS NEWS SERVICE
