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WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) - A Japanese whaling ship has begun moving away from Antarctica under its own power, an official said Sunday — 10 days after a fire left it crippled and laden with fuel near the world's biggest penguin breeding ground.
The Nisshin Maru, an 8,000-ton whale-meat processing ship, was stranded in the Ross Sea after a fire broke out on its lower decks Feb. 15, and has been drifting, lashed to two other Japanese whaling vessels. One sailor died in the blaze.
Environmentalists shadowing the ship offered to tow it to safety to ease fears it might spill some of its 343,000 gallons of fuel oil in the pristine waters off Antarctica's Cape Adare, home to some 250,000 breeding pairs of Adelie penguins.
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