Antarctica Oil Spill: Endless Sea, Wrecked Brazilian Ship, Leaking And Trapped In Ice

SANTIAGO, Chile -- A wrecked Brazilian ship is trapped in ice and spilling fuel in Antarctica, with no hopes of containing the damage until the long South Pole winter eases next October.

The "Endless Sea" capsized and sank in 12 meters (39 feet) of water last month near where Chile and Brazil have navy bases. The crew was rescued without injury, but poor weather kept them from diving below to check the damage until Wednesday.

The ship carried about 2,100 gallons of oil but Veronica Vallejos of the Chilean Antarctic Institute tells The Associated Press that the extent of the spill is unknown.

The worst Antarctic spill to date was in 2007, when a tourist ship went down with nearly 57,000 gallons of fuel.

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Comments

[aligatorhardt]

11:42 AM on 05/19/2012

This demonstrates the poor judgment of opening arctic areas to oil drilling. People cannot work normally in those frozen conditions. Oil cannot be skimmed off the surface when ice covers much of the area. So if a spill occurs in winter, nothing will be done about it until the next summer? Look at how much oil and gas ran out of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in 3 months.

[artleads]

10:33 AM on 05/11/2012

Very, very sick. The oil lobby is villainous!

[Robert Rowley]

11:27 AM on 05/10/2012

BP should stand for busted priorities, big polluters, or broken pipes. How often have we heard that their drilling and removal methods are safe and wont cause any damage to the environment. Oil companies are about profits at the consumers and environments expense.

[PlayTOE]

06:10 AM on 05/10/2012

Mankind .. spoiling the unspoiled pristine places as fast as we can. We should at least be ashamed of our legacy.

This ship should have been pumped out, not let spill.

[Conspiracy2Riot]

01:11 AM on 05/10/2012

had just watched a sea shepard film earlier tonight, where watson's crew were able to disable a japanese whaling boat. it was damaged and they were concerned about the oil spilling there as well because the ship was on fire. fortunately, this did not occur.

the cinematography of antartica was incredible. i can't imagine an oil slick in that region not creating vast devastation for the marine life.

[stella801]

11:29 PM on 05/09/2012

So is anything being done? This article lacks information.

This is horrible. Antarctica is one of the last "untouched" places on Earth, but slowly being exploited and contaminated.

I feel badly for all the life that will be affected.

[inigo]

12:45 AM on 05/10/2012

I wonder why HP doesn't even have this on their front page. Because it's not affecting people here as directly we no longer need to care? it's now someone elses problem? (technically is i guess). either way though, this is BIG S*$%!!! and i agree fully with your statement. so sad

[Kvothe]

01:41 PM on 05/11/2012

Sorry, it's hard to find articles like this in between all the Lindsey Lohan, Beyonce, and George Clooney articles.

[Kvothe]

01:41 PM on 05/11/2012

Whoops, I meant *fit*

[PatrickBoucher]

11:59 AM on 05/10/2012

It is hard to imagine that anything is being done after rescuing the crew. Temperatures, darkness, and weather at this time of year make it too difficult to do much.

Sadly, and despite efforts to insulate Antarctica from exploitation, I think it is merely a matter of time as the planet's population continues to grow and other mineral and oil resources become depleted. Antarctica is huge and likely contains vast quantities of oil. The Madrid Protocol currently prohibits mineral and oil exploration, but it expires in 2041. I would be surprised if various nations were not gearing up to begin exploration within as little as a couple of decades - and probably already developing plans even now.

[stella801]

12:35 AM on 05/11/2012

Sadly, I think you are right on all points.

[olitenup]

07:18 PM on 05/09/2012

oh God.

[undsoweiter]

06:28 PM on 05/09/2012

Shorter list.
Is there anywhere we haven't spilled oil?

[whatsurbrain4]

09:58 PM on 05/09/2012

Yes - the areas that are currently thawing out up around Alaska that a few countries are trying to get drilling right to. "If an area is pure and unspoiled it's because humans haven't found it yet"