SAN FRANCISCO, Nov. 10 (UPI) -- Almost 50 boats and 200 people were added to the cleanup crew working on the San Francisco Bay oil spill Saturday.
Shen Eng, a Coast Guard petty officer, said there were 60 boats in the bay and 500 emergency workers, The San Francisco Chronicle reported.
"We're going at the problem with everything we can, and making some good headway," Eng said. "There's a lot of oil out there."
A container ship, the Cosco Busan, hit a tower on the Bay Bridge, spilling 58,000 gallons of crude oil into the bay Wednesday. Eng said 20 of the boats added Saturday were oil skimmers rented by the company that owns the Cosco Busan.
California officials were outraged by the Coast Guard's initial response to the spill. Initial reports said only 140 gallons had been released, and the Coast Guard did not realize the size of the disaster until late Wednesday afternoon -- and then waited four hours to go public with the information.
Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., said Coast Guard statements claiming they responded appropriately were "just unacceptable."
