Several hundred litres of furnace oil seeped into the Little Sackville River in the Halifax area after someone deliberately cut a line to a tank the morning of Nov. 8.

RCMP Cpl. Joe Taplin said some passersby noticed the slick sheen on the water's surface and reported it to the fire department at about 7 a.m. Firefighters then traced the spill to an oil tank behind a complex of businesses. “It was just filled up last week,” Mr. Taplin said of the oil tank. “So we're estimating anywhere between 600 and 700 litres spilled out of that and down into the drainage system into the Sackville River.”

Firefighters and cleanup crews used booms and pads to contain the spill in the river and pumped out polluted water. A backhoe scooped up some of the contaminated soil, Mr. Taplin said.

Whoever's responsible for severing the line to the oil tank could face charges of mischief over $5,000, Mr. Taplin said.

The RCMP is asking for the public's help and going door-to-door in the area in search of leads, he said. “Some businesses do have surveillance tapes, so we're asking to look at those surveillance tapes to see if we can see anybody suspicious or any suspicious vehicles in the area.”

Akram Ribahi, who owns the Quickmart and the oil tank that was drained, said he was working at his store until about 2 a.m., and heard about the vandalism from RCMP officers upon returning to work at 9:30 a.m. He believes it happened overnight.

“I'm shocked,” he said. “I don't know anything.”

Mr. Ribahi said he called his insurance company and learned his policy might not cover the cost of cleaning up the oil spill, causing him a considerable amount of stress. “I lost my mind,” Mr. Ribahi said.

Mr. Ribahi said he's owned the building since 1986 and hasn't had any previous problems, except when thieves broke open the door to steal cigarettes about four years ago.

Walter Regan, president of the Sackville Rivers Association, went to look at the river Sunday morning and was crushed by what he saw. “It's bad enough when it's an accidental spill,” Mr. Regan said. “But when this is deliberate and malicious damage — vandalism — it's heartbreaking.”

The timing was especially unfortunate because it's spawning time for Atlantic salmon, he said. The oil will kill eggs, fish species, bugs and other organisms and will adversely affect the ecosystem within a six-kilometre stretch along the river, he said. “We've spent 21 years trying to restore the river,” he said. “Overall, the water quality's very good. And to have this useless, senseless act happen for no reason is very disheartening.”

Officials from Fisheries and Oceans Canada, the provincial Environment Department and Halifax Water were also on the scene Sunday.