Fuel washed into a bay off Antarctica's Deception Island when the MS Nordkapp, with 370 people aboard, damaged its hull on rocks on Tuesday.

"We can confirm that such a fuel spill occurred, given that traces of hydrocarbons have been detected on more than 5 km (3 miles) of the interior shore of the island," Raul Perez, a scientist at the Gabriel de Castilla base, told Spanish state radio.

The owners, Norway's Hurtigruten Group, said they were not aware of any spill and had followed safety procedures after the 123-meter (403 ft) vessel refloated itself and anchored.

"We had laid out oil protection equipment around the ship but we have not observed any oil spillage from the vessel," Hurtigruten's spokeswoman Hanne Kristiansen said.

A spokesman for the Spanish army, which operates the base on Deception Island, confirmed scientists had detected a fuel spill in the bay after the ship ran aground. He said the base had taken samples of the fuel to determine its type and source.

"We still don't know the size of this," said the army spokesman in Madrid. "This is fuel from a ship, not an oil tanker spill."

An international treaty designates Antarctica as a nature reserve and calls on member countries to quickly handle environmental emergencies and establish liability for environmental damage. The Antarctic base, which has Spanish military and scientific personnel, said it could not measure the complete expanse of the spill as it had no aircraft.

"The ecological system has been harmed, it's going to stay in the sediment and it's going to affect the area," Perez said.

The MS Nordkapp was set to continue towards Ushuaia, Argentina, with another vessel while passengers were transported to Argentina on sister ship MS Nordnorge.

http://www.aftenposten.no/english/local/article1626472.ece