Fears of oil spill from stricken PNG vessel

7:47 pm on 5 January 2016

Officials in Papua New Guinea's East New Britain province fear a ship that ran aground last month may be leaking oil.

The MV Kimbe Queen struck a reef near Talele Island, near Rabaul, on the 23rd of December.

About 60 people had to be rescued from the ship, which ran aground about 50 metres from the Talele Nature Reserve.

A spokesperson for the provincial disaster management office says rainy conditions have prevented a team from being able to inspect the ship, but there is the threat of an oil spill.

The spokesperson told the newspaper, The National, that crews were hoping to resume work around the wreck this week.

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