Incident in Japan

An incident took place on 29 May 2014 off the coast of Hyogo prefecture, Japan, involving the tanker Shoko Maru (998 GT). The tanker, which had already unloaded its cargo of crude oil, suffered an explosion and subsequently sank, tragically resulting in the loss of life of the ship’s master.
An unknown quantity of oil has been released from the sunken vessel and some tar balls have been found on beaches around 15km south of the vessel’s sunken position. The Japanese Coast Guard responded to the incident immediately and clean-up operations are ongoing.
There have been no reports of significant oil pollution damage as a result of the incident at this stage. It is not known whether the 1992 Fund will be called upon to pay compensation in respect of this incident, however, the 1992 Fund will continue to monitor developments.