沉沒伊朗油輪造成100平方公里油污帶

China is preparing to send underwater robots to investigate the hull of a sunken Iranian tanker that has created oil slicks covering 100 sq km of ocean, marking one of the worst shipping disasters in recent years.

中國正準備安排水下機器人探摸一艘沉沒的伊朗油輪的船體，該船已造成覆蓋100平方公里海面的油污帶，成爲近年最糟糕的航運災難之一。

The underwater operation, which will also involve surface vessels and divers, could attempt to plug holes in the hull that are leaking oil, according to the Shanghai Maritime Search and Rescue Centre.

據上海海上搜救中心介紹，水下作業還將有水面船舶和潛水員參加，可能試圖堵住正在漏油的船體破洞。

The effort to explore the wreck comes as authorities race to limit environmental damage from the spill.

有關部門試圖探摸沉船之際，當局正竭力限制此次泄漏對環境造成的損害。

On January 6 the Sanchi, a 274-metre long oil tanker, was transporting 1m barrels of highly volatile condensate crude from Iran to South Korea when it collided with a cargo ship 160 nautical miles off the coast of China. The collision caused a massive fire in which the 32 crew members apparently perished.

1月6日，274米長的“桑吉號”(Sanchi)油輪在距離中國海岸160海里的地方與一艘貨船相撞。當時桑吉號正裝載着100萬桶高揮發性凝析油從伊朗駛往韓國。撞船導致大火，32名船員看上去均已遇難。

The bodies of three crew have been recovered. Mahmoud Rastad, chief of Iran’s maritime agency, said that there was “no hope” of finding survivors among the 29 still missing.

三名船員的遺體被找到。伊朗海事機構負責人馬哈茂德?拉斯塔德(Mahmoud Rastad)表示，“沒有希望”在29名仍然失蹤的人員中找到倖存者。

By Thursday strong winds had pushed the oil, which had formed four massive slicks, away from the Chinese coast and into Japan’s exclusive economic zone. The largest of the four slicks covered 48 sq km, the State Oceanic Administration said.

截至週四，強風把4塊龐大的油污帶吹離中國海岸，使其進入日本的專屬經濟區。據中國國家海洋局表示，4塊油污帶中最大的一塊麪積達到48平方公里。

The SOA said it had collected water samples from 19 spill sites, and determined that water from five sites contained petroleum substances at levels exceeding acceptable standards.

國家海洋局表示，已從19個油污點採集水樣，並確定其中5個站點的水樣含有超出可接受標準的石油類物質。

Paul Johnston, from Greenpeace International’s Science Unit in the University of Exeter, said the main priority was no longer salvage and recovery but an assessment of the environmental impact of the spill.

綠色和平(Greenpeace)設在英國埃克塞特大學(University of Exeter)的科學組的保羅?約翰斯頓(Paul Johnston)表示，現在的重點已不再是搶救和復原，而是評估漏油對環境的影響。

Given that the fuel tanks in vessels such as the Sanchi are located close to the engine room, he said, it was likely that they had remained intact since the initial collision. “In this scenario, it is possible that we will see chronic low-volume leakage over a period of time at the seabed. The impact would remain relatively local,” said Mr Johnston.

他表示，考慮到桑吉號這類船舶的油箱靠近發動機艙，這些油箱自最初的碰撞以來很可能保持完好無損。“在這種情形下，我們可能會在一段時期內看到海牀上出現慢性低流量泄漏。其影響將保持相對局部，”約翰斯頓表示。

Wang Haiyang, an expert on marine ecology, also drew attention to the fuel oil. He said heavy diesel oil in the Sanchi’s fuel tank had apparently leaked. “Diesel continues to burn and is easily dissolved in seawater. This can have some impact on the ecological environment and will last two to three months,” he said.

海洋生態學專家王海洋也提到燃料油。他說，桑吉號油箱裏的重型柴油顯然泄漏了。“柴油持續燃燒，易溶解於海水，對生態環境有一定影響，將持續2-3個月，”他表示。