Oil disaster off Queensland coast bigger than first acknowledged.

Oil spill fears deepen as ship firm admits error




THE full scale of the environmental disaster on the Queensland coast was becoming clear last night as a shipping company admitted that its earlier estimates of the size of the oil spill were "substantially" wrong.

An oil slick was blackening beaches along the Sunshine Coast, Bribie Island and Moreton Island.

Even as authorities focused on the damage to these areas " now declared disaster zones " more oil spilt into the Brisbane River. This 500-metre-long slick was contained quickly.

As experts warned that the environmental damage could worsen, the State Government said it would take at least two weeks to clean up.

On the beach at Bribie Island yesterday, council workers were raking the sand, turning up the globules of oil.

The stricken cargo vessel Pacific Adventurer was still leaking oil from a breach in its hull late yesterday as it lay moored in Brisbane's port, a casualty of rough seas it encountered on a voyage to Indonesia in the early hours of Wednesday.

"I think it's fair to say the Government and authorities were not informed accurately of the size of the spill," said Allan Sutherland, the Mayor of Moreton Bay, where part of the clean-up was taking place.

He said the ship's owners, Swire Shipping, "were hoping mother nature would take its course. It didn't."

Last night, Swire Shipping, admitted the damage was worse than it had announced earlier.

It said a diver's examination of the Pacific Adventurer's hull showed the damage was worse than initially believed.

"It is likely that substantially more oil has spilled than the earlier estimate of 42.5 cubic metres (42.5 tonnes)," it said.

Authorities say up to 100 tonnes of oil may have leaked.

The Government yesterday doubled the estimated time it would take to clean up the beaches, saying it would take at least two weeks. The clean-up, being undertaken by hundreds of government staff with earthmoving machinery and rakes, will cost $100,000 a day.

Maritime Safety Queensland warned that the effects of the spill would probably get worse before they got better.

The chief executive of the Australian Maritime Safety Authority, Graham Peachey, said it had detained the Pacific Adventurer "and it's not going anywhere until we release it".

Swire Shipping was co-operating with investigators, who are examining the ship's actions since before it left Newcastle on Tuesday carrying more than 800 tonnes of ammonium nitrate, an explosive used in mining. About 600 tonnes of ammonium nitrate, sealed in shipping containers, was lost overboard during the storm...............