Dead birds wash ashore after cargo ship oil spill

Hundreds of dead, oil-stained birds washed ashore and an oil spill from a sunken cargo ship in the English Channel closed in on Belgian beaches. About 3,000 gallons of heavy fuel leaked from the Tricolor, which went down Dec. 14, creating an oil slick 2 1/2 miles long and 160 yards wide. Soldiers were put on standby to clear the beaches of oil once the spill hits the beaches.
Floating buffers have been set out around some nature reserves along the 40-mile coast to limit environmental damage. The weather was too rough to combat the slick at sea and much of the spill was breaking up into clots drifting toward the Belgian coast.

Hundreds of birds were found dead on the beaches, covered in heavy oil and environmental protection officials said many more had died at sea.
The Tricolor, laden with BMWs, Volvos and Saabs, sank Dec. 14, after colliding in thick fog with a container ship about 30 miles east of Ramsgate, south-eastern England.