Singaporean sued for polluting river

Singaporean sued for polluting river

HANOI (AFP): Ho Chi Minh City has launched legal action against the Singaporean owners of a tanker than spilled more than 1,000 tons of oil into a river, polluting nearby farmland, reports said yesterday.

City officials asked the People's Court to impound the Neptune Aries, a Singaporean-registered vessel that crashed into an oil jetty on Oct. 3, spilling at least 1,000 tons of gas-oil, the Saigon Giai Phong newspaper said.

Officials took the action after the Neptune Orient Line, which owned the 29,998-ton vessel, refused to pay a deposit of 240 billion dong (US$21 million) to cover compensation for environmental damage.

The spill was the second in the area since May when a collision between a Vietnamese tanker and a Taiwanese cargo vessel resulted in severe pollution from 200 tons of oil.