Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, January 8, 1994 TAG: 9401080108
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: SAN JUAN, PUERTO RICO LENGTH: Short
The Morris J. Burman barge, carrying more than 1.5 million gallons of oil, was being pulled past San Juan by a tugboat before dawn Friday when a line snapped and the barge crashed into a reef. Two of its nine tanks ruptured, sending about 750,000 gallons of black oil gushing into the sea .
Emergency workers laid floating barriers to limit the damage to a mile-long strip of the Atlantic coast.
Gov. Pedro Rossello called the spill "a catastrophe" and said he hoped a quick cleanup could soften the blow to the island's tourism industry. The spill did not affect Atlantic and Caribbean resorts outside San Juan.
The crippled vessel held less than one-sixth the amount that spilled in 1989 from the Exxon Valdez in Alaska's Prince William Sound, but the widening slick posed an environmental threat.
"Fish, wildlife, marine life is going to be affected. They're going to die," said Jose Burgos, duty officer for Puerto Rico's civil defense agency.
by CNB