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A seal with its lower body stained with petroleum rests on the rocks near the shore of San Cristobal island in the Galapagos Islands, one week after the oil tanker
Jessicaran aground last year. Photo: Reuters
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Scientists say a fuel tank that fell into waters off Ecuador's Galapagos Islands has created a slick that threatens to contaminate rare wildlife.
The container slipped into the ocean as port workers were unloading an oil tanker on Isabela Island, the largest in the renowned archipelago.
All 2,000 gallons of fuel spilled into the water and drifted towards nearby beaches inhabited by unique sea lion and iguana species.
The Charles Darwin Foundation says the effects of the spill on the island's fragile environment is unclear.
The Galapagos Islands, about 620 miles off Ecuador's Pacific coast, are the country's top tourist attraction.
In January 2001, an oil tanker ran aground off the coast of the archipelago's San Cristobal Island, leaking nearly 240,000 gallons of fuel into the surrounding waters.
A study on the June 6th issue of the journal Natureestimated that as many as 15,000 marine iguanas died on the Galapagos's Santa Fe Island in the 11 months after the spill.
Princeton University researcher Mr Martin Wikelski: "Our findings warn against complacency over apparently low-impact contamination after environmental disasters in other wildlife areas, such as the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska."
PA