美国有线新闻 CNN 伊朗油轮与香港货船相撞 发生石油泄漏（在线收听）

伊朗油轮与香港货船相撞 发生石油泄漏

Paris, France, is just over 40 square miles in area. That's also about the size of an oil spill that's spreading in the East China Sea.

It started when an Iranian oil tanker collided with a freighter from Hong Kong. That happened on January 7. The oil ship caught fire, and stayed afloat, burning, until it exploded and sank a week later on January 14th.

Officials believe all of its 34 crew members died in the accident. The tanker was carrying 136,000 tons of condensate oil. It's a type used to jet fuel and it's lighter in color than the thick black crude oil that's been seen in other oil spills.

But though environmentalists say some of the oil on board the ship probably burn in the fire, their concern that what remained could still hurt marine life in the area, like whales and porpoises. They're also worried that the fuel that power the ship will leak as well, and that could make things worse. It's very toxic.

The oil slick, China says there are four of them, almost doubled in size this week. Other boats are in this area of the East China Sea, working to clean up the oil and environmental group Greenpeace expects any contamination to stay relatively close to the sunken ship, though winds have pushed the spill east toward Japan.