The Swedish Coast Guard is fighting one of the country’s biggest oil spills this weekend. On Sunday morning 120,000 litres had already been cleared, but an overall picture is still missing.
A Coast Guard spokesperson gave more details on Sunday. The oil has washed up on and near the Tjörn peninsula, north of Gothenburg. The spokesman suspects that the black substance ended up in the Kattegat after a collision on 10 September between two ships off the Danish coast, but tests have yet to confirm this.
The Danish authorities have already cleared approximately 60,000 litres of oil from the sea. In Sweden, the stuff has ended up in lobster and bird-rich areas. According to the coast guard, it is the worst oil spill on the Swedish west coast since 1989, when a Greek tanker lost 100,000 litres. | © 2011 Marcel Burger for ANP News Agency (originally published in Dutch on 18 September 2011)