Oil disasters are not a rare occurrence and the environmental impact on marine life can be devastating.

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Queensland's worst offshore oil spill was caused by the cargo ship Pacific Adventurer, which spilled more than 270,000 litres of oil into the ocean leading to a major clean-up of Moreton and Bribie islands and Sunshine Coast beaches in March, 2009. The ship was sailing north from Port Kembla in New South Wales when it hit rough weather off the south-east Queensland coast. More than 30 containers fell overboard, piercing the ship's fuel tanks and 270,000 litres of oil spilled into the ocean. Whether from stricken oil rigs or oil tankers the environmental impact on marine life and bird life can be devastating. It may take many months even years to clean up major oil spills.

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Size: 5500px × 3682px
Location: Sunshine Coast Queensland Australia
Photo credit: © Adrian Page / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No

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