Hundreds work to save wildlife after San Francisco oil spill

Nov 11, 2007, 11:19 GMT

San Francisco - Hundreds of workers attempted to save wildlife and halt the spread of a large oil spill in the San Francisco Bay that has continued to spread and led to the closing of many beaches on the US West Coast.

More than 200 birds have been buried alive in oil and 60 have already died, radio broadcaster KCBS reported late Saturday. More than 220,00 litres of oil have leaked into the bay since Wednesday after a huge container ship slammed into the Bay Bridge.

Only 75,000 litres of oil has been cleaned up so far, and 13 kilometres of floating barriers had been deployed to halt the spread.

Sixty boats, including 20 special craft to remove oil from the water, were involved in the more than 500-man cleanup effort, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.

Scores of volunteers who wanted to assist at the scene were turned away because of the dangers involved in cleaning up oil.

No damage was caused to the bridge when the 65,131-ton Cosco Busan, a 250-metre-long container ship, struck a protective structure around the bridge's massive pilings in heavy fog, suffering a 25- metre gash.

On Friday, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger had called a state of emergency for the area to free funds for the efforts.

Hundreds of thousands of marine animals and birds are threatened by the spill, which has already reached the Farallon Islands 40- kilometres away that serve as an important bird and wildlife sanctuary.