The World - News from Feb. 2, 1989

A U.S. team of experts and 50 tons of equipment headed to the Antarctic to battle an oil spill, four miles in diameter, that experts said is killing wildlife in the pristine polar region. A U.S. Air Force cargo plane was bound for the southern Chilean city of Punta Arenas, where the equipment will be transferred to a U.S. research vessel, officials at the U.S. Embassy in Chile said. Officials stressed that they still are trying to assess the magnitude of the spill, caused by the sinking of an Argentine supply ship, but said it represented the first major environmental threat to the Antarctic.