The ''Tasman Spirit'' was a Greek registered
oil tanker
An oil tanker, also known as a petroleum tanker, is a ship designed for the bulk transport of oil or its products. There are two basic types of oil tankers: crude tankers and product tankers. Crude tankers move large quantities of unrefined crud ...
. The tanker was launched in February 1979 and was formerly called the ''Mabini'' and ''Kenko''.
''Tasman Spirit'' oil spill
On July 27, 2003, she ran aground near the city of
Karachi
Karachi (; ur, ; ; ) is the most populous city in Pakistan and 12th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 20 million. It is situated at the southern tip of the country along the Arabian Sea coast. It is the former cap ...
whist on approach to the
Port of Karachi
The Port of Karachi ( ur, , ''Bandar gāh Karāchī'') is one of South Asia's largest and busiest deep-water seaports, handling about 60% of the nation's cargo (25 million tons per annum) located in Karachi, Pakistan. It is located on the Karac ...
. Over the next few days more than 33,000 tons of oil spilled into the
Arabian Sea
The Arabian Sea ( ar, اَلْبَحرْ ٱلْعَرَبِيُّ, Al-Bahr al-ˁArabī) is a region of the northern Indian Ocean bounded on the north by Pakistan, Iran and the Gulf of Oman, on the west by the Gulf of Aden, Guardafui Channel ...
in what is considered by some to be the largest
environmental disaster
An environmental disaster or ecological disaster is defined as a catastrophic event regarding the natural environment that is due to human activity.Jared M. Diamond, '' Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed'', 2005 This point disti ...
in
Pakistan
Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...
's history. Cracks began to appear on the ship's hull on August 13 and the ship began to break up. By August 17, the ship had split into two, releasing some 12,000 tons of its light crude oil cargo into the Arabian Sea.
According to the
IUCN
The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN; officially International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natu ...
16 kilometres of coastline has been polluted.
The ship's insurer offered 10 million rupees (about $180,000
US dollar
The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...
s in 2003) in compensation to the Karachi port authorities, and agreed to pay all cleaning expenses.
References
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*
Tasman Spirit oil spill collection of articles at Coordination marée noire
*
*https://web.archive.org/web/20041118141048/http://www.hipakistan.com/en/detail.php?newsId=en35669&F_catID=&f_type=source
Oil spills in Asia
Maritime incidents in 2003
Maritime incidents in Pakistan
Oil tankers
History of Sindh (1947–present)
1979 ships
Ships built in Japan
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