San Francisco, Nov 11 (DPA) Hundreds of workers attempted to save wildlife and halt the spread of a large oil spill in the San Francisco Bay that has continued to spread and led to the closing of many beaches on the US West Coast.
More than 200 birds have been buried alive in oil and 60 have already died, radio broadcaster KCBS reported late Saturday. Over 220,000 litres of oil have leaked into the bay since Wednesday after a huge container ship slammed into the Bay Bridge.
Only 75,000 litres of oil have been cleaned up so far, and 13 km of floating barriers had been deployed to halt the spread.
Sixty boats, including 20 special craft to remove oil from the water, were involved in the more than 500-man cleanup effort, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.
Scores of volunteers who wanted to assist at the scene were turned away because of the dangers involved in cleaning up oil.
No damage was caused to the bridge when the 65,131-ton Cosco Busan, a 250-metre-long container ship, struck a protective structure around the bridge’s massive pilings in heavy fog, suffering a 25-metre gash.
On Friday, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger called a state of emergency for the area to free funds for the clean-up efforts.
Hundreds of thousands of marine animals and birds are threatened by the spill, which has already reached the Farallon Islands 40 km away, that serve as an important bird and wildlife sanctuary.