Beijing - A Belgian cargo vessel began leaking oil into waters off China's north coast after it was struck by a Chinese oil supply ship, local media reported Sunday. The stern of the Belgian vessel "Lowlands Prosperity" was hit by Chinese oil supplier, "Jinyou No.1" after docking to refuel at the Caofeidian port area in Hebei Province on Saturday evening, the state-run Xinhua news agency reported.
The Hebei maritime authority immediately launched an emergency response and temporarily contained the leak, the report said, but fog had hampered the operation early Sunday.
The ship's remaining fuel had been safely removed, and booms had been put in place to control the pollution, a Caofeidian official, Han Jianmin, was quoted as saying by the semi-official China News Service.
Han said the scope of the pollution was comparatively small, and did not pose a large risk, however the Xinhua report said the volume of oil leaked and affected water area were not known.
