SYDNEY (Reuters) - A stranded Chinese bulk coal carrier leaking oil into the sea around Australia's Great Barrier Reef is in danger of breaking up and damaging the reef, government officials said on Sunday.
The 230-meter (754-ft) Shen Neng I was on its way to China when it ran aground on a shoal on Saturday. It had 950 tonnes of oil on board and officials said patches of oil had been spotted in the water early on Sunday, but no major leak.
The premier of Queensland state Anna Bligh said the ship was in a poor state, and posed a danger to the reef.
"The situation remains serious as the extent of the damage means there is a very real risk that the vessel may break apart," Bligh said in a statement. "Every effort is now being made to limit the impact of this incident on the Great Barrier Reef."
Aircraft overflew the vessel early on Sunday, taking photographs and dispersant was to be sprayed later in the day.
The Great Barrier Reef is one of Australia's major tourist attractions and is considered to be highly vulnerable to damage from pollution.
Environmentalists have criticized regulations which do not require a special pilot to guide ships through the tortuous channels in the area. They warned that communities of coral only recently studied by science could be destroyed by a major oil leak.
"It would devastate the local ecosystems in this area," Ian Herbert, vice-chairman of the local Capricorn Conservation Council, told Reuters. "There are corals surrounding some of these islands that are very special."
The China-bound ship was carrying 65,000 tonnes of coal from the Queensland port of Gladstone. It was located 70 km (43 miles) east of Great Keppel Island, offshore from the city of Rockhampton. Continued...
Satellite image of the Great Barrier Reef. 
A Chinese merchant ship has run aground off the coast of Australia and began leaking oil into the ocean near the Great Barrier Reef, triggering fears of a major oil spill into the waters near the reef.

The ship, the ''Shen Neng 1'', was carrying 950 tonnes of oil, along with 65,000 tonnes of coal, from Gladstone, a port in Queensland, Australia, to China. It reportedly ran aground sometime late on Saturday 70 kilometers from Great Keppel Island, according to a spokesperson from the Queensland state government. The spokesperson, Mark Strong, said that oil had been spotted off the ship about two nautical miles away, although there was currently no major leak. A plane was dispatched to spray a dispersant over the oil, as well as to assess the situation, and a major clean-up operation was being planned by authorities.

The day after the ship first grounded, reports began emerging that it had been travelling in a restricted zone of the ocean, around nine miles outside the normal shipping lane, and had been travelling at full speed when it grounded. An official from Queensland said that a probing inquiry would later be conducted into its presence outside the shipping channel.

Conservationists said that the incident was "a sign of things to come," and that there was the potential for a much larger accident in the future. One such person, a spokesman for the Capricorn Conservation Council, said that "We are outraged that no marine pilot is required on ships between Gladstone and Cairns." Cairns is a city on the northern coast of Australia.