South Korean court fines Samsung Heavy over oil spill
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) -- A South Korean court fined Samsung Heavy Industries Co. 30 million won ($28,870) Monday for its involvement in a major oil spill, a court official said.
High gas prices aid prop-plane comebackThe local court in Seosan also sentenced two crew members to up to three years in prison for violating the ocean pollution law, court official Yoon Young-yoon said. The fine and prison sentences were the maximum allowed under the law.
The crew members piloted two tugboats pulling a Samsung-operated crane-carrying barge that slammed into the Hong Kong-registered tanker Hebei Spirit on Dec. 7, causing it to release nearly 80,000 barrels of oil into South Korea's coastal waters.
The spill jeopardized the ecosystem and the livelihood of residents in the area, home to some of the country's most scenic beaches.
Samsung Heavy and the crew members of the tugboats have a week to appeal, Yoon said.
The court also ruled that Hebei Spirit Shipping Co., the owner of the oil tanker, and two of its crew members were not guilty of pollution charges, Yoon said.
Prosecutors had sought the maximum fine amount and up to three-year sentences for the tanker crew.
- 1 Nomura CEO seeks change with Lehman buy
- 2 CE Donald Tsang meets UK Prime Minister in London
- 3 Macaus hot streak shows signs of cooling
- 4 Financials drag on market; Dow falls more than 240
- 5 Asia stocks sink as layoffs add to global gloom
- 6 Drop in Stock Market Sends Traders to the Safety of the U.S. Dollar
- 7 HSBC to cut 500 jobs in Asia as slump takes toll
- 1 HK typhoon alert No.1 issued
- 2 HSBC reports 1H fall in profit 29 percent
- 3 Bryant scores 19, helps US beat Russia in tuneup
- 4 Actor Morgan Freeman is injured in car accident
- 5 Jolie-Pitt baby twins photos online
- 6 Christina Applegate treated for breast cancer
- 7 Paris Hilton's mom takes offense at McCain's humor
|
- 1 Japan's central bank keeps interest rates on hold
- 2 Armenia takes possession of 1st at Chess Olympiad
- 3 US financial lobby urges open markets for China
- 4 `Chinese Democracy' begins streaming on MySpace
- 5 Chinese official corrects figure on quake deaths
- 6 Asian nations brace for economic crisis
- 7 China vows not to compromise with Tibetan exiles
|
|
