Oil spill pollutes waters off Cilacap

CILACAP, Central Java: An estimated 1,000 barrels of crude oil spilled into the waters off Cilacap after the fuel tanker MT King Fisher hit a reef on Saturday, causing a leak in one of its compartments.

The accident took place at about 3:05 p.m., just before the tanker, carrying 600,000 barrels of crude oil, arrived at the Cilacap oil refinery from Tanjung Santan in East Kalimantan.

State oil company Pertamina's spokesman in Cilacap, Husni Banser, told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday about 1,000 local fishermen were being deployed to clean up the oil spill.

"We've localized the polluted water and we pay each fisherman Rp 30,000 per day," he said. (45/edt)