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A cargo ship has run aground off the north coast of Taiwan, releasing more than 100 metric tonnes of heavy fuel oil into the sea, according to officials at the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA).

The Panama-registered Morning Sun was grounded approximately 300 metres off the Taipei County Coast, located in the north of the country, when the oil spill incident took place. The vessel is reported to have been carrying 493 tonnes of heavy fuel oil.

The cargo ship had been travelling from the port of Singapore to Busan in South Korea when it pulled close to the Taiwanese coast to shield itself from winds on Monday night. As it was not carrying any load, the poor weather conditions caused it to wobble violently, the administration’s marine pollution section chief Hsu Jen-tse said.

Commenting further on the incident, Hsu said “The accident occurred at 10:20pm on Monday. Due to technical negligence, the bottom of the Morning Sun scraped the rocky seafloor and the ship was left stranded 300 metres off Taipei’s Shihmen Township.”

Hsu said the bunker spill had polluted an area approximately 3 kilometres long by 300 metres wide.

“The leak poses a threat, as it is close to the First Nuclear Power Plant, whose staff has been ordered to activate preventive safety measures,” Hsu commented.

Fortunately, because of the direction of the northeast seasonal winds, Hsu said the waves carried most of the leaked fuel oil ashore. "Otherwise, the heavy oil could have coagulated on the seafloor and it would have been difficult to clean up,” he added.

Three crew members have remained on board the ship to help with the cleanup of the fuel oil spill. The remaining 18 people on board the ship when the incident took place have been rescued by the Coast Guard.