Winds drive huge oil slick from South African coast

August 9, 1983

Favorable winds blew a massive oil slick from a wrecked supertanker away from South Africa's Atlantic coast, dispelling fears of a major pollution disaster. Pollution experts said it was now unlikely the 60-square-mile slick, at one time only about six miles offshore, would move back toward the coast. Anton Moldan, head of South Africa's marine pollution services, said it would eventually break up and disperse in the Atlantic Ocean.

The slick was from the Spanish vessel Castillo de Bellver, which broke in two after a fierce fire on Saturday.