An area six times the size of Singapore has been contaminated by a large oil spill off the coast of China, it has been reported.
The spill originated from an oil field run by US firm ConocoPhillips along with China's state-run oil industry company, CNOOC.
It is thought to have contaminated an area of almost 1,650 square miles, according to government figures, with the authority considering compensation for the leak.
The spill occurred over a month ago but has only just been made public, sparking rumours of an official cover-up and angering the Chinese public.
"First of all, we don't want to hide the accident from the public. But we need time to investigate and work out plans to solve the problem," Cncworld.tv reported Lu Bo, CNOOC vice general manager, as saying.
He did concede that in retrospect the public was not notified in time and the disclosure did not live up to public expectations.
The Deepwater Horizon oil spill in 2010 affected more than 320 miles of coastline in the US state of Louisiana.
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