A grounded ship leaked fuel oil into the sea outside Kalmar County in Sweden and massive rescue efforts are now taking place, the Swedish Television SVT reported on Monday.

At least 120 people from several emergency services are fighting to prevent the oil from spreading.

An unknown amount of fuel oil has leaked from the grounded Makassar Highway ship. The ship had 400,000 litres of oil on board the ship got stuck late Sunday evening. According to the coastguard, 7,000 litres of oil have been taken out of the water so far.

"At the moment, several ships are working to pick up oil from the water and the coastguard uses also aircrafts to get a better overview of how much oil there is and where is it moving," coastguard's station manager Par-Ake Eriksson told SVT.

According to Eriksson, the plan is to tow the ship out to the open sea so that the rescue workers and other vessels have enough space to work around it.

By Monday afternoon, the oil reached the sea shores and the public in the affected area is urged to avoid contact with oil in the water or on land.