S Korea oil spill captains held

Over 6,000 people have been working to clear up the spill

The captains of a barge and a tugboat have been arrested over the massive oil spill off South Korea's west coast this month, the country's coastguard says.

The spill happened when the tug snapped its towing cable, causing the barge - which it was pulling - to drift and collide with a super tanker.

The resulting slick of some 10,500 metric tons of crude oil devastated beaches and marine farms.

The two were charged with negligence and breach of marine pollution laws.

Clean-up effort

The spill came from the anchored 147,000-ton Hong Kong-registered super tanker Hebei Spirit, which was holed in three places.

The oil washed ashore in the scenic Taean region on the west coast.

The government declared a state of disaster, but was criticised for acting too slowly.

The oil slick, the largest in South Korea's history, is about a third of the size of the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska, considered the costliest on record.

South Korea's previously largest spill happened in 1995, when 5,000 tons of oil washed onto the southern coast.

Environmentalists say the damage caused by the slicks could last for years, despite a clean-up effort by South Korean police, military and volunteers.