JAKARTA, 05 August 2004 - A Singaporean vessel carrying 200 tonnes of oil waste which sank last week off Indonesia's Riau islands has begun to spill its cargo, threatening fishing grounds, officials said Wednesday. The ship went down on July 25 as it tried to dock at a town in the Karimun region of the island chain close to Singapore, but the extent of the pollution was not known, said environment ministry spokesman Sudaryono.
Indonesian Environment Minister Nabiel Makarim said he had deployed a team to the area to inspect the damage and was consulting with his Singaporean counterpart over compensation, according to the Detikcom online news service. Lieutenant Colonel Bambang Wahyudi, a navy commander in Karimun, said the ship had sunk with some of its oil containers open.
"About two (nautical) miles (3.7 kilometres) off the shore, the sea was blackened by oil waste. Until now, fishermen there could not catch fish because of the oil spill," Detikcom quoted him as saying.

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