Land, water scarcity threaten food security, says UN

A rapidly growing population, climate change and degradation of land and water resources are likely to make the world more vulnerable to food insecurity and challenge the task of feeding its people by 2050, the United Nations’ food agency said.

The world would have to boost cereals output by 1 billion tonnes and produce 200 million extra tonnes of livestock products a year by 2050 to feed a population projected at 9 billion people, up from 7 billion now, according to UN estimates.

Intensive farming of the past decades has helped to feed millions of hungry people but it has often led to degradation of land and water systems on which food production depends, the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) said today.

“These systems at risk may simply not be able to contribute as expected in meeting human demands by 2050. The consequences in terms of hunger and poverty are unacceptable. Remedial action needs to be taken now,” FAO Director-General Jacques Diouf said.

Deadly Thai floods close factories, threaten Bangkok

Nearly 200 factories, including one run by Japanese car maker Honda Motor Co Ltd , closed in the central Thai province of Ayutthaya because of flooding, which could threaten Bangkok this week, officials said today.

About 261 people have died since late July in flood-related incidents, the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation said. Some 2.3 million people have been affected in the worst flooding to hit parts of Thailand in 50 years, mainly in the centre, north and northeast.

The Rojana estate in Ayutthaya province, run by Rojana Industrial Park Pcl , was flooded after a wall of sandbags failed to hold back water overnight.




“All 198 factories at Rojana have to be closed because the water is about 5.1 metres high,” Industry Minister Wannarat Channukul told Reuters.

A Honda spokeswoman said it had moved about 3,000 assembled cars from the estate to other areas. Hana Microelectronics Pcl has also had to close its plant in Ayutthaya.

On Thursday the Centre for Economic and Business Forecasting, part of the University of the Thai Chamber of Commerce, cut its forecast for gross domestic product (GDP) growth this year to 3.6 per cent from 4.4 per cent because of the floods.

It put the impact of the flooding at between 1.0 and 1.3 percentage points of GDP and said its new growth forecast would have been lower but for recent strength in exports.

The commerce ministry said on Friday it had slashed its forecast for the main rice crop, which farmers are just starting to bring in, to 21 million tonnes from 25 million because of the flooding.

Thailand is the world’s biggest rice exporter. The crop damage will add to the pressure on export prices, already being forced up by the high buying price set under a government intervention scheme aimed at helping poor farmers.

Bangkok Governor Sukhumbhand Paribatra said in a statement the authorities were preparing an evacuation plan to move people from affected areas if floods hit the capital, much of which is just two metres above sea level.

Some riverside areas have already suffered minor flooding but the level of the Chao Phraya River could rise sharply from October 15-18 when a large amount of water will reach the area from the north, where dams are close to overflowing, at a time of high sea tides.

The government was trying to accelerate the drainage of water from the Chao Phraya into the sea before the high tide.

Other Southeast Asian countries have suffered serious flooding in recent weeks because of heavy monsoon rains combined with tropical storms.

The death toll from two strong typhoons that cut across the north of the Philippines’ main island and left behind widespread flooding had risen to 101 as of today, the national disaster agency said.

At least 167 people had died in Cambodia by late last week and 15 in Vietnam.

Taj Mahal could collapse within five years because wooden foundations are rotting

The Taj Mahal will collapse within five years unless urgent action is taken to shore up its foundations, campaigners have warned.

The 358-year-old marble mausoleum is India’s most famous tourist attraction, bringing four million visitors a year to the northern city of Agra.

But the river crucial to its survival is being blighted by pollution, industry and deforestation.

In danger: The Taj Mahal, near Agra in India. Experts have said it could be in danger of collapsing within five years because its wooden foundations are rotting.Architectural wonder: The 358-year-old tomb is built on mahogany post foundations sunk into wells fed by the nearby Yamuna River. That river has now run dry, and cracks appeared in the walls last year





Campaigners believe the foundations have become brittle and are disintegrating.

Cracks appeared last year in parts of the tomb, and the four minarets which surround the monument are showing signs of tilting.

The Taj Mahal was built by Mogul emperor Shah Jahan, who was grief-stricken by the death of his wife Mumtaz Mahal in childbirth.

Its romantic image has attracted film stars and royalty, including Princess Diana, who posed in front of the building after the breakdown of her marriage to Prince Charles.

A campaign group of historians, environmentalists and politicians say time is running out to prevent a 'looming crisis'.

Ramshankar Katheria, the MP for Agra who is leading the campaign, said: 'If the crisis is not tackled on a war-footing, the Taj Mahal will cave in between two and five years.

'The architectural wonder of the world is losing its shine, and if this persists the minarets may also collapse since the wooden foundation - beneath the wells - is rotting due to lack of water.

'No one has been allowed to go into the foundations for the last three decades. If everything is fine, what have they got to hide?'

Professor Ram Nath, a historian who is one of the world's leading authorities on the Taj, said: 'The Taj stands just on the edge of the river Yamuna which has now dried up.

'This was never anticipated by its builders. The river is a constituent of its architectural design and if the river dies, the Taj cannot survive.'


The Yamuna River has fallen victim to India's soaring growth.

Large numbers of businesses draw water from the Yamuna upstream of the Taj.

Pollution has increased as trees have been cut down to make way for new roads.

The trees also protected the city from the worst effects of regular dust storms which now blow over the Taj unimpeded.

Mr Katheria said: 'The Taj has been enveloped by a smokescreen of dust for the past few years.

'Every year, the water level is coming down by five feet, raising fears of turning the entire area barren.

'Besides, there is an acute shortage of drinking water in Agra. Around 70 per cent of the population is drinking impure water, and consequently suffering from several health hazards.'

The Taj is built on a raised platform on top of a hillock, which is based on wells underneath.

The four 40ft high minarets balance the platform, and are designed to tilt slightly outwards, to prevent them crashing on top of the tomb in an earthquake.

Mr Katheria said around £71million is needed to construct a barrage on the river.

Environmental campaigners also believe a tree-planting campaign and a water pipeline may improve the situation.

The sinking water level is also affecting India's capital, New Delhi, which is at risk of suffering water shortages.

The Indian government has set up body to deal with the Taj Mahal's preservation.

Officials connected with eight projects say the national and state governments are now working together to deal with the issue.

BB Awasthi, regional officer of the Uttar Pradesh Pollution Control Board, said: 'These projects have been held up since 2003 for want of funds.'

He said he expected the projects 'would receive top priority treatment'.

Japan earthquake - IAEA: Japan underestimated nuclear plant tsunami risk

Shares of Tokyo Electric Power Co fell to 289 yen on Thursday, the lowest level since it was listed on the stock exchange, coming under increasing pressure from selling by retail investors.

Radioactive water accumulating in Tokyo Electric Power Co.'s crippled Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear plant is set to start overflowing from storage trenches in five days, data provided by the company show. ...

The radiation from Japan's crippled Fukushima Daiichi reactors poisoned farmlands, contaminated the sea, and sent invisible mists of radiation wafting around the world. The latest – and it's just the latest – atomic accident has raised new ...

WWF takes images of rare tigers in logging forest

A Sumatran tiger plays with its cub in the Bukit Tigapuluh forest in central Sumatra in this image captured using camera traps on April 14, 2011, and released today, May 9, 2011.


The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) has recorded images of 12 endangered Sumatran tigers, including a mother playing with cubs, in an Indonesian forest that it said is about to be cleared by loggers.

WWF, which estimates that there are only 400 Sumatran tigers left in the wild, captured the images on camera traps in the Bukit Tigapuluh forest on central Sumatra island, which has seen rampant deforestation for palm oil and paper plantations.

Karmila Parakkasi, leader of WWF’s tiger research team in Sumatra, said the number of big cats seen in two months of observation was impressive.



“What’s unclear is whether we found so many tigers because we’re getting better at locating our cameras or because the tiger’s habitat is shrinking so rapidly here that they are being forced into sharing smaller and smaller bits of forests,” Parakkasi said.

Still images show six individual tigers and a mother with a cub, while the video shows footage of another mother and three young cubs playfully chasing a leaf.

WWF said Indonesia’s government had pledged to protect this forest area, but it was inside a land concession belonging to a subsidiary of Indonesian paper firm Barito Timber Pacific.

The firm was not immediately available for comment.

“As soon as pending permits are granted by the government, the company could clear the forest to supply the wood to Asia Pulp & Paper of Sinar Mas Group,” said WWF, adding that it and other environmental groups have opposed the clearance plan.

Indonesia agreed with Norway a two-year moratorium on new permits to clear forest, under a landmark US$1 billion (RM3 billion) deal to curb greenhouse gas emissions from deforestation, but it has yet to be signed into law as ministries wrangle over details.

The moratorium was expected to slow rapid industry expansion by the world’s largest producer of palm oil, used to make everything from biscuits and soap to biodiesel and seeing growing demand from consumers in fast-growing Asia.

In the last 50 years, Indonesia has lost both the Bali tiger and Java tiger.

Tornadoes, storms rip through US South, 185 dead

Overnight tornadoes leaves part of Pratt City, a suburb of Birmingham, Alabama, in ruins April 28, 2011. Devastating storms and tornadoes raked though the US South, killing at least 185 people as they ripped houses to rubble, flipped cars and uprooted trees and power lines, officials said today.

Devastating storms and tornadoes raked though the US South, killing at least 185 people as they ripped houses to rubble, flipped cars and uprooted trees and power lines, officials said today.

In the deadliest series of storms in nearly four decades in the United States, 128 people were killed in Alabama, the worst-hit state.

In Mississippi, 32 were killed, while 10 people died in Georgia and 11 in Arkansas. Louisiana and Tennessee also reported deaths as the clusters of powerful tornadoes and storms tore a swathe of destruction from west to east.







Some of the worst devastation occurred yesterday in Alabama, where a massive 1.6km-wide tornado slammed into Tuscaloosa, home to the University of Alabama, killing at least 15 people, including some students.

Tuscaloosa resident Jannie Ross said she and her family took shelter in the basement of their home when the tornado struck.

“We could hear debris hitting the side of our house, glass breaking and the train sound often attributed to big storms such as these,” she told the University of Alabama newspaper, The Crimson White.

“We could hear it destroying everything outside.”

US President Barack Obama declared a state of emergency for the state and ordered federal aid.

“Our hearts go out to all those who have been affected by this devastation and (we) stand ready to continue to help the people of Alabama,” Obama said in a message on Twitter today.

The storms also forced the Tennessee Valley Authority to close three nuclear reactors at a power plant in Alabama and knocked out 25 high-voltage power lines. Hundreds of thousands of homes have lost power.

“We have never experienced such a major weather event in our history,” said the Tennessee Valley Authority, a US-owned company that provides electricity to 9 million people in seven states.

Alabama Governor Robert Bentley declared a state of emergency and said he was deploying 2,000 National Guardsmen. Governors in Arkansas, Mississippi and Tennessee also declared states of emergency.

“We’re in a search and rescue mode. We’re making sure that those that may be out there that are trapped, that we have not found, we are trying to find them,” Bentley told CNN.

“There has been massive devastation across northern Alabama. These long-track tornadoes really tear up the landscape as well as homes,” he said.

Tornadoes are a regular feature of life in the US South and Midwest, but they are rarely so devastating.

Images from Tuscaloosa, a town of around 95,000 in the west-central part of the state, showed widespread damage.

“Everybody says it (a tornado) sounds like a train and I started to hear the train,” Anthony Foote, a resident of Tuscaloosa whose house was badly damaged, said. “I ran and jumped into the tub and the house started shaking. Then glass started shattering.”

The campus of the University of Alabama, home of the famous Crimson Tide football team, was not badly damaged but some students were killed off campus, Bentley said.

Damage in Alabama was spread over a wide area through the north and central part of the state, said Jennifer Ardis, Bentley’s press secretary.

The highest toll was in Franklin County in the rural northwest part of the state where 18 people died, according to figures from the Alabama Emergency Management Agency.

Eleven people died in Jefferson County, home to Birmingham, the state’s largest city, the agency figures showed.

Authorities in Alabama and Mississippi said they expect the death toll to rise as emergency workers attempt rescues and recovery in the storm’s wake.

One month to the day after Japan was devastated by the tsunami that left 25,000 dead, ANOTHER earthquake strikes off the SAME coast

* Tremors struck as country prepared to remember the dead
* Crippled nuclear plant evacuated after latest seismic activity
* Government pledges to do all it can to help survivors
* Frustrations increasing among residents of Fukushima exclusion zone
* Nuclear officials admit they cannot offer end date for plant crisis
* Evacuation zone around stricken plant could be expanded due to accumulation of radiation

A tsunami warning was issued for an hour after a 7.1-magnitude earthquake hit Iwaki in Fukushima province, a month after a massive earthquake and tsunami devastated Japan's north-east coast.

The latest quake came as sombre ceremonies were planned today to mark one month passing since the tragedy.

And there are fears it could have catastrophic ramifications for the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant.

The plant has since been evacuated, although its operator said no nuclear damage has been reported after this latest burst of seismic activity.

 Silent reflection: Japan's Ground Self-Defence Force members in a moment of silence at 2:46 pm, exactly a month after a massive earthquake struck the area in Otsuchi, Iwate Prefecture

 Police officers in protective suits search for bodies at a destroyed area, about 18km from the damaged Fukushima nuclear power station

 Memorial: A group of Japanese Shinto priests (on the left) and Buddhist monks at Yugihama Beach during a pray for Japan memorial event in Kamakura, Kanagawa Prefecture

 Police officers in protective suits observe a moment of silence for those who were killed by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, as they search for bodies at a destroyed area in Minamisoma, Fukushima prefecture

 Buddhist monks pray in an area destroyed by tsunami in Natori, Miyagi Prefecture, northern Japan, one month to the day after an earthquake and tsunami devastated the city

A warning was issued for a 3-foot tsunami, the same as after another 7.1 aftershock that shook the northeast coast last week, but was lifted after about an hour.

The U.S. Geological Survey said today's very shallow quake was centred 14 miles northeast of the town of Iwaki, to the south of the stricken Fukushima nuclear plant.

The Pacific Tsunami Center said the quake would had not triggered a widespread tsunami that could reach the U.S. and Canadian West coasts but could cause a local one.

People at a large electronics store in central Sendai screamed and ran outside during today's incident, though the shaking made it hard to move around. Mothers grabbed their children, and windows shook. After a minute or two, people returned to the store.

There were no new reports of damage. Aftershocks have repeatedly rattled the disaster-weary region, but there is little left in the northeast to ruin.

Last Thursday's 7.1-magnitude aftershock, which had been the strongest tremor since the day the original quake hit, did sink hundreds of thousands more households into darkness, however. Most of that electricity has been restored.

Buildings shook and Tokyo's main international airport briefly shut both of its runways, but there have been no immediate reports of damage or injuries after the latest quake, which comes as Japan reflected on the devastation wreaked by last month's disaster.

However, thousands of bodies are yet to be found, a tsunami-flooded nuclear power plant is still spewing radiation and more than 150,000 people remain living in shelters.

'We offer our deepest condolences to those who lost their loved ones,' chief cabinet secretary Yukio Edano said today at a brief news conference where he pledged the government would do whatever it could to help survivors and end the nuclear crisis.

'We are sorry for causing inconvenience and difficulties to those who still live in shelters.'

The 9.0-magnitude earthquake and the tsunami it generated flattened communities along hundreds of miles of coastline. The government has estimated the cost of damages from the disaster could grow to $310billion.

In an open letter printed in seven newspapers across the globe, Prime Minister Naoto Kan thanked other nations for their help since the disaster.

'Through our own efforts and with the help of the global community, Japan will recover and come back even stronger. We will then repay you for your generous aid,' he wrote.

'With this in our hearts, we now stand together dedicated to rebuilding the nation.'

People in hard-hit towns gathered for ceremonies at 2:46pm, the exact moment of the massive quake a month earlier.

'My chest has been ripped open by the suffering and pain that this disaster has caused the people of our prefecture,' said Yuhei Sato, the governor of Fukushima, which saw its coastal areas devastated by the tsunami and is home to the damaged plant at the centre of the nuclear crisis. 'I have no words to express my sorrow.'

In a devastated coastal neighbourhood in the city of Natori, three dozen firemen and soldiers removed their hats and helmets and joined hands atop a small hill that has become a memorial for the dead.

Earlier, four monks in pointed hats rang a prayer bell there as they chanted for those killed.

In the industrial town of Kamaishi Governor Takuya Tasso led a moment of commemoration as a loud siren rang through a high school gymnasium being used as a shelter. He bowed while people who have lived there since the tsunami kneeled on makeshift futons, bowed their heads and clasped their hands.

The earthquake and tsunami flattened communities along hundreds of miles of coastline. More than 158,000 people are still without electricity and 210,000 have no running water, although some of that is because of the 7.1-magnitude aftershock that rattled the area last Thursday.

'Even after a month, I still cry when I watch the news,' said Marina Seito, 19, a student at a junior college who recalled being in a basement restaurant in Sendai when the earthquake hit. Plates fell and parts of the ceiling crashed down around her.

Adding to the misery is radiation spewing from the Fukushima Daiichi complex 140 miles northeast of Tokyo. The 70,000 to 80,000 people who lived within 12 miles of the plant must stay away from their homes indefinitely.

'We have no future plans. We can't even start to think about it because we don't know how long this will last or how long we will have to stay in these shelters,' said Atsushi Yanai, a 55-year-old construction worker. The tsunami spared his home, but he has to live in a shelter anyway because it is in the evacuation zone.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said Monday that residents of five more communities, some more than 20 miles from the plant, are also being urged to leave because of high levels of radiation.

'This is not an emergency measure that people have to evacuate immediately,' Edano said. 'We have decided this measure based on long-term health risks.'

Meanwhile, nuclear safety official Hidehiko Nishiyama apologised for the worry and inconvenience caused by the radiation spilling from the plant, where cooling systems disabled by the March 11 tsunami still have not been restored and likely won't be for several months.

'We've done all we could to come this far,' Mr Nishiyama said yesterday.

'Unfortunately, we still cannot give any timeline for when we can move on to the next phase, but we are hoping to achieve a sustainable cooling system, contain radiation and bring the situation under control as soon as possible.'

Plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co reiterated that it is not considering entombing the hot reactors in concrete, as was done at Chernobyl in 1986 when a reactor fire burned out of control. Japan's nuclear crisis is the world's worst since then.

 

Chiyoko Sasaki, 67, covers her face as she sees her husband Sueo, 72, in a coffin at a makeshift mortuary in Ishinomaki, Miyagi Prefecture, northern Japan

 Clean-up: A remote-controlled truck removes debris at the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant

 Police officers in protective suits observe a moment of silence for those who were killed by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, as they search for bodies at a destroyed area in Minamisoma, Fukushima prefecture

 Two-year-old Ayaka and family members pray her missing grandmother and great-grandmother at a vacant lot where they lived in Ishinomaki, Miyagi prefecture

 Deep sea denizen: This 11ft yellow ribbonfish is usually only found in deep water, but may have been forced out of its habitat by the aftershocks. It was caught near Taiwan

 A worker in the installed de-contamination area of the quake-proof building, to help expand the protection area at TEPCO's Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear power plant

 Masataka Shimizu, President of Tokyo Electric Power Company which owns the Fukushima nuclear plant (third right) offers a silent prayer for the victims of the earthquake and tsunami

 Buddhist monks pray in an area destroyed by tsunami in Natori, Miyagi Prefecture, northern Japan, one month to the day after an earthquake and tsunami devastated the city

Daisuke Koizumi, a 30-year-old Ishinomaki Fire Department firefighter, prays as he searches for the missing, including three fellow firefighters, while young boys pray for the victims atTsurugaoka Hachimangu Shrine in Kamakura, Kanagawa Prefecture

Hungarian sludge firm CEO faces no charges

A judge on Wednesday dismissed prosecution demands that the head of a metals company linked to Hungary's devastating red sludge spill be charged with negligence and he has been released from police custody, his lawyer said.

Appearing after the closed court hearing reviewing the case, Zoltani Bakonyi's lawyer, Janos Banati, said the judge ruled in his favor after finding that prosecutors couldn't substantiate their argument that Bakonyi did not sufficiently prepare emergency warning and rescue plans in case of accidents like the sludge spill.

Banati said prosecutors were preparing an appeal.


An aerial view of Kolontar village covered by toxic red mud, 164 kms southwest of Budapest, Hungary, Tuesday, Oct. 12, 2010 after the dyke of a reservoir containing red mud of an alumina plant in nearby Ajka broke eight days earlier, and over one million cubic meters of the poisonous chemical sludge inundated three villages, killing eight people and injuring over hundred.


An aerial view of Kolontar village covered by toxic red mud, 164 kms southwest of Budapest, Hungary, Tuesday, Oct. 12, 2010 after the dyke of a reservoir containing red mud of an alumina plant in nearby Ajka broke eight days earlier, and over one million cubic meters of the poisonous chemical sludge inundated three villages, killing eight people and injuring over hundred.







The decision was sure to embitter hundreds of villagers who blame the management of MAL Rt. for the deaths of nine people, the hundreds of homes left uninhabitable and the poisoning of local waterways. Some 700,000 cubic meters (184 million gallons) of caustic sludge and water burst from a storage pool of a metals plant Oct. 4, inundating three western Hungarian towns and spilling into the Danube.

"Life won't be returning to normal for a very very long time," said Devecser Mayor Tamas Toldi, whose town was one those swamped by the toxic slurry.

In a bit of good news, authorities said that cracks in the wall of the broken reservoir appear not to have grown wider, calming some fears that further collapse would release a second flood of sludge.

One village remained evacuated Wednesday and residents in Devecser were ready to leave on short notice. But Toldi said he hoped the state of alert could be called off later in the day once a protective wall in neighboring Kolontar meant to contain any new spill had been completed.

The National Disaster Management Directorate, meanwhile, said that the death toll had risen to nine after an elderly man died overnight. Of the more than 100 hurt by the caustic slurry, around 50 people remained hospitalized.

Banati said Wednesday's ruling reflected defense arguments that the company had emergency plans that had been approved by government authorities and that did not need updating when Bakonyi took over two years ago. He also said he knew of no incriminating testimony against Bakonyi from employees of his firm.

Bakonyi is the managing director of MAL Rt., or the Hungarian Aluminum Production and Trade Company, which owned the reservoir, part of the Ajkai Timfoldgyar plant in Ajka, 160 kilometers (100 miles) southwest of Budapest.

The red sludge that spilled after a part of the reservoir wall partially collapsed is a highly caustic byproduct of alumina production which is used to make aluminum.

The government took over the company on Tuesday, and said the Ajka subsidiary of MAL could restart production by the end of the week under its supervision.

While some local waterways were declared dead in the wake of the spill, the Danube appeared to be suffering little immediate ecological damage due to its massive volume.



Cracks run along the surface of red mud in the reservoir near Ajka, 164 kms southwest of Budapest, Hungary, Tuesday Oct. 12, 2010, after a dyke of a reservoir containing red mud of an alumina plant in nearby Ajka broke eight days earlier, and over one million cubic meters of the poisonous chemical sludge inundated three villages, killing eight people and injuring over hundred.

 
Soldiers wash red sludge from a worker in Deveczer, Hungary, Tuesday, Oct. 12, 2010. Hungarian police have detained the director of the aluminum company responsible for a flood of caustic red sludge that killed eight people and injured more than hundred when it burst from its reservoir last week, according to the prime minister

Court Frees Executive Arrested in Hungary Spill

The managing director of the company linked to Hungary's red sludge disaster was released from custody without charge, his lawyer said Wednesday, citing a lack of sufficient evidence.

Toxic clean-up in Hungary - Hungary declares state of emergency after fatal toxic spill - Cleanup, Probe of Sludge Flood in Hungary

Emergency workers and construction crews in Hungary are struggling to clear roads and homes hit by a spill of toxic red sludge.

Hundreds of people were evacuated after the disaster, when a gigantic sludge reservoir burst its banks at a metals plant in Ajka, a town 100 miles south-west of Budapest.

The torrent inundated homes, swept cars off roads and damaged bridges, disgorging an estimated one million cubic metres of toxic waste onto several nearby towns.

Hungarian officials have declared a state of emergency, calling the spill "an ecological disaster" that could threaten the Danube River, one of Europe's great waterways

Emergency workers wearing masks and chemical protection gear also rushed to pour 1,000 tons of plaster into the Marcal River in an attempt to bind the sludge and keep it from flowing on to the Danube, 45 miles away.

Named for its bright red colour, the material is a waste product in aluminium production that contains heavy metals and is toxic if ingested.

BP permanently ‘kills’ Gulf of Mexico well

With a final shot of cement, BP Plc permanently “killed” the runaway Macondo well in the Gulf of Mexico that had unleashed the worst oil spill in US history, the top US spill official said today.

The well flowed unchecked for 87 days after an April 20 explosion aboard the Deepwater Horizon rig killed 11 workers and unleashed a torrent of oil that marred the coasts of four Gulf Coast states and spurred a moratorium on all new US offshore drilling.





BP engineers sealed off the flow on July 15 with a cap on the mile-deep well after it spewed more than 4 million barrels into the Gulf, about 16 times as much as the 257,000 barrels of oil spilled by the Exxon Valdez disaster in Alaska in 1989.

The spill wiped about US$70 billion (RM217 billion) from BP’s market value and spurred BP to replace its gaffe-prone chief executive Tony Hayward with an American, Bob Dudley, effective October 1.