KL gets $745,000 for oil spill

KL gets $745,000 for oil spill

KUALA LUMPUR (Reuter): An insurance fund has awarded Malaysia 1.9 million ringgit (US$745,000) in compensation for the expense of cleaning up an oil spill from a Japanese tanker in 1992, local newspapers reported yesterday.

Malaysia had been negotiating the award with London-based insurance fund Protection and Indemnity Club for three years, the New Straits Times quoted Science, Technology and Environment Minister Law Hieng Ding as saying.

Law presented compensation checks to representatives of government agencies, private companies and fishermen on Monday, the newspaper said.

Japanese tanker The Nagasaki Spirit spilled 13,000 tons of crude oil into the Straits of Malacca when it collided with a container vessel near Belawan, Indonesia, in September 1992. Forty-four people were reported killed in the collision.