An operation was being mounted to contain and clean-up the spill, including skimmers, booms to contain the oil and aeroplanes to drop dispersants on it.
Malaysia mounted airstrikes and mortar attacks Tuesday against the clansmen, but most eluded capture in a coastal district brimming with palm oil plantations and forested hills.
Shortly after the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico in the Spring of 2010, Italian coastal communities and local politicians mounted an offensive on offshore drilling, fearing a similar event in the Mediterranean.