SHINDURI BEACH, South Korea — Chung Hwan-hyang surveyed the damage from South Korea’s worst oil spill, saddened by the knowledge that the oyster farm she and her husband ran for 30 years was lost.
“My oysters are all dead,” the 70-year-old woman said Sunday as she and thousands of others cleaned foul-smelling oil from Shinduri Beach. “I cried and cried last night. I don’t know what to do.”
About 2.7 million gallons of crude gushed into the ocean after a collision Friday between a barge and a supertanker carrying more than 260,000 tons of crude oil.
For Chung and other residents of the county, nearly 100 miles southwest of Seoul, the spill brought despair and shock at how the pollution shattered lives and businesses.
The oil slick began hitting the shore early Saturday, coming in waves of mucky, stinking crude. The spill now threatens the livelihood of an area that includes beaches such as Shinduri and better-known Mallipo, which is considered one of South Korea’s most scenic areas and serves as an important stopover for mallards, great crested grebes and others migrating birds.
More than 20 million tourists a year visit the area, providing an economic boost to the area’s 63,800 residents heavily dependent on fishing and seafood farming.
At Mallipo Beach, about a 30-minute drive from Shinduri Beach, raw-fish restaurant owner Kim Eung-ku was helping with the cleanup but said he feared the situation was hopeless.
“We have no choice but to leave this place,” he said. “This ocean is dead.”
Ku Bon-chun, chief of a local fishermen’s association at Mohang Port near Mallipo, said 32 acres of aquatic farms raising abalone, oysters and other marine life there were all submerged by oil-coated waters.
“I feel like my heart is empty,” he said. “These fishing farms are all finished.”
The South Korean government has stopped short of promising direct aid, saying any compensation would have to be paid by insurance policies covering the two ships and an international fund that covers oil pollution damage.
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