The "NAKHODKA" Incident / ナホトカ号油流出事故
The Russian tanker NAKHODKA broke apart 106 km NNE of Oki Island of Shimane Prefecture around 02:51, January 2, 1997. Transporting aboard 19,000kL of heavy fuel oil shipped at the port of Shanghai, China, the tanker was then en route to Petropavlovsk, Russia. The severed ship's bow drifted on the raging sea, whilst the rest of the ship body sank to rest on the seabed. Some 6,200kL of heavy fuel oil were released from the ruptured cargo tanks. At the time of the incident, a NW wind was blowing at a velocity of 20 m/s or above ; and wave height and swell were estimated at 6 m min. and 4 m min., respectively. At 13:00, January 2, thirty-one crew members, were rescued, except the ship's captain whose body was retrieved later.
Both the sea current and the strong, northerly seasonal wind carried the ship's bow, together with the spilled oil, away to the coastal regions of Japan. On January 7, the ship's bow ran aground near the seaside town of Mikuni, Fukui Prefecture, and the oil polluted the shoreline. The dispersing oil spill then moved north along the coast and contaminated the long shorelines of nine prefectures from Shimane northward to Akita.
Thanks to concerted efforts of the government and private sectors, recovery operations proceeded smoothly. On April 30, the Fukui prefectural authorities announced the termination of recovery operations in their jurisdiction. And recovery
ロシア･タンカー｢ナホトカ号(NAKHODKA)｣は、中国の上海から重油19,000kLを満載し、ロシアのぺトロパブロフスクヘ航行中に1月2日午前2時51分頃島根県隠岐島沖北北東106km付近で、船体を折損し船尾部は沈没、船首部は漂流しました。折損した船体から約6,200kLの重油が流出しました。当時の気象･海象は北西の風20m/s、波浪6m、うねり4m以上と推定されます。
同日午後13時、船長を除く31人全員が救出(船長は後に遺体で発見)されました。海上に流出した油は、船首部と共に、海流と強い北よりの季節風によって日本海沿岸に接近し、1月7日船首部と共に油が福井県三国町に漂着しました。
その後、拡散漂流した油は北上し、油による汚染範囲は島根県から秋田県に至る1府8県に及びました。
官民一体による懸命な回収作業の結果、4月30日に福井県が油回収作業の終息を宣言するなど、全域における回収作業もほぼ終了しました。
