An international maritime fund will pay 26.1 billion yen in damages to victims of an oil spill that contaminated large stretches of the Sea of Japan coast in 1997.
The London-based International Oil Pollution Compensation Funds worked out the sum after assessing compensation claims filed by tourism and fisheries industries and local authorities in 10 prefectures affected by the spill, sources said Friday.
The fund will pay the money jointly with a British insurance group contracted with Russian marine transport company Prisco Traffic. Prisco owns the ship that caused the oil spill on Jan. 2, 1997.
The fund has already made an advance payment covering 80 percent of the approved amount to the industries and local governments. It figured the total amount of damages would exceed its compensation ceiling of 23.1 billion yen.