<Anchor>
At dawn on the 10th, 130 tons of oil leaked from a petrochemical plant in Yeosu. After 5 hours, the accident was confirmed and the oil flowed through the river and into the sea.
This is KBC reporter Lee Hyung-gil.
<Reporter> About
20 people in uniforms wipe oil off the rocks.
Half of the river is covered with absorbent cloth, and oil strips and dead fish float everywhere.
Although a pest control film was placed on the part facing the sea, oil bands are also found on the sea side.
The time when oil began to overflow from the raw material oil storage tank of the Orion Engineered Carbons Korea factory located in the Yeosu National Industrial Complex was around 0:10 this morning.
Oil overflowed the tank due to a malfunction of the water level meter, but the company did not confirm the oil spill until 5:20 a.m., five hours after the accident.
[Oil spill factory officials: There are operators (workers). There are night workers, but I was not aware of it (the leak) because they were doing other work.]
Only 130 tons of the amount leaked during 5 hours was determined by the company.
We hastily stopped the oil spill inside the factory and shut off the rainwater pipe, but it was not enough to stop the spilled oil.
Another two hours after recognizing the oil spill at the factory, residents reported it, and it was confirmed that the oil had flowed to the river here.
Ultimately, it was around 8:00 in the morning when oil removal work began in the river.
[Seo In-kwon / Resident of Samil-dong, Yeosu: I was contacted at 7:45 and arrived here at about 55 minutes.
When I first came, I was a little perplexed.
I didn't know how to deal with it...
.]
It was a simple equipment error that could have been easily prevented, but the company did not take proper measures and it led to a large-scale oil spill.
(Video coverage: Choi Bok-soo KBC)