Polluted water resulting from spillage from sunken Iranian-flagged tanker Sanchi could reach coral reefs in Japan’s Ryukyu Island chain, a recent ocean model simulation from the National Oceanography Centre (NOC) and the University of Southampton has shown. The latest predictions were made following the suspected arrival of some of the oil from the Sanchi oil tanker on Amami-Oshima, an island at the edge of the East China Sea.
Earlier simulations were based on the Sanchi oil tanker’s sunken position. Earlier predictions had suggested that the island of Amami-Oshima would be threatened by oil contamination between 20 and 30 days after the Sanchi sank, and the apparent oil contamination has reached the island right at the bottom end of this range.