A Korean man has been fined £20,000 following an oil spill in the Bay of Gibraltar earlier this month.

Kim Sangsob, 56, Captain of the tanker Gas Venus, was sentenced in the Magistrates’ Court this morning, after pleading guilty to one count of Discharge Or Allows Into, British Gibraltar Territorial Waters Oil Of Any Description. 

For the other charge of Damaging A Resting Place Of A Wild Animal Of A European Protected Species, for which he also pleaded guilty, he received no separate penalty.

It followed an incident on the morning of Tuesday 1 August this month, as the tanker took on fuel a short distance from the South Mole.

 The spill was of heavy fuel oil, which is used to power ship engines. Some of the oil washed ashore in Gibraltar, causing the temporary closure of Camp Bay and Rosia Bay.

The Captain was charged following an investigation by Royal Gibraltar Police Marine Section officers, with assistance from the Gibraltar Port Authority and the Department of the Environment.