Indonesia to sue King Fisher oil tanker
Monday, April 10 2000 - 02:30 AM WIB
The state oil and gas firm Pertamina, the local Cilacap administration, non-governmental organizations, and fishermen are planning to take legal action against the owner of MT King Fisher tanker which spilled out 4,000 barrel of its crude oil and polluted the Cilacap waters in Central Java.
The Republika daily reported that a team had been formed to file a legal suit to demand compensation.
King Fisher tanker bumped into a rock in the waters of Cilacap after it deviated from the normal shipping route, spilling out its oil.
Pertamina and the local administration started to employ 2,000 fishermen on April 1 to help clean the water from the oil. But the number had to be increased to 6,282 following protest from the other fishermen who also demanded participation.
Each fisherman was paid Rp 30,000 per day for the cleaning work.
Separately, the Kompas daily said that Pertamina had to spend some Rp 1 billion to clean a radius of 38 Km of the Cilacap water from the oil.
Republika said that the Cilacap water was now clean from the oil. (*)