Just an update to this story:
Australia oil well catches fire
An oil well at the centre of a massive spill in the Timor Sea off the north west coast of Australia is on fire.
The company which runs the well, PTTEP Australasia, said the fire broke out as it made another attempt to plug a leak deep underwater at the West Atlas rig.
Engineers have been struggling for more than 10 weeks to stop the leak which is spewing gas and oil at an estimated 400 barrels a day.
All workers were reported safe and were being evacuated from the installation.
This cannot be good.
an opposition spokesman, Greg Hunt, accused Environment Minister Peter Garrett of doing nothing to stop the oil leak.
"Ten weeks of complacency, 10 weeks of drift, 10 weeks of inaction from Mr Garrett," he said.
"In the absence of action... the prime minister must step in and convene a national environmental emergency task force within the next 24 hours."
I agree, 10 weeks is fart too long for this to be going on!
