Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/03/27
By: Sunrise Huang and Christie Chen
Taipei, March 27 (CNA) Efforts restarted Sunday to remove oil and fuel from a container 
ship that ran aground off Taiwan’s northern coast over two weeks ago.
As the weather improved off the coast on Sunday, workers were able to set up oil pipes and extractors to pump out heavy oil and fuel from the “T.S. Taipei” (德翔台北) ship.
The pumping operation has been slow because there have only been six days when the sea was calm enough for the operation to proceed since the accident occurred on March 10 in waters off Shimen in New Taipei, and bad weather forced work crews to remove pipes.
Battered by rough seas, the stranded vessel began breaking apart on March 24, leaking substantial amounts of oil into the sea, creating a heavily polluted area within a 500-meter radius of the ship and a slick that can reach as far as five kilometers away. [FULL STORY]
