Venezuelan oil tankers have been transporting 90 million gallons of oil into the Gulf of Peria for almost two years. New photos of the ship show that it appears to be leaning heavily on its side – leading to growing concerns about the potential. Environmental disaster Which threatens one of the richest regions Biodiversity In the world.
According to local politicians and activist groups, Nabarima is carrying about 1.3 million barrels of crude oil – five times the amount. Exxon Valdez Famously flooded in 1989. The ship is part of a joint venture between Petrolios de Venezuela (PDVSA) and Italy’s SPA.
The ship has been stranded in the Gulf since January 2019. Anne’s spokesman told Reuters the company was seeking to unload crude oil from the ship, but was waiting for the US government’s “green light” to prevent the risk of any sanctions. ”
Sea of fishermen and friends by rotors
On Monday, environmental group Fisherman and Friends of the Sea, which represents 50,000 fishermen in the local industry, urged the Caribbean community to work together to protect the region and potential disasters, emphasizing the need for a “clean, healthy sea”. ”
The organization’s corporate secretary, Gary Aboud, visited the ship on Friday and said what he saw was “horrible.” In the video taken by Aboud, the boat is tilting at an angle it estimates at 25 degrees.
“These are not false images. No one is doing anything,” Aboud says with a mess leaning behind him. He called for a national crisis.
Inside Record-breaking hurricane season, A large oil spill would jeopardize the integrity of the Southern Caribbean. A large coral reef system, which was already strained by climate change, could suffer even more damage from recovery – eventually leading to the collapse of the entire marine ecosystem.
“Our cries have not been answered and it seems that Nabrima’s condition is deteriorating daily,” the organization wrote on Facebook. “His silence is unacceptable and will never be forgiven if the ship capsizes.”
This week, legislators from Venezuela’s National Assembly’s Environment, Natural Resources and Climate Change Commission called on PDVSA and En Ni to unload barrels from the ship.
In a press release, the commission’s president, Maria Gabriela Hernandez del Castillo, said the tanker was now bent more than the group had reported in August, while the head of the Venezuelan Unitary Federation of Petroleum Workers Report That ship had about nine feet of water on the lower deck.
On Friday, the U.S. embassies in Trinidad and Tobago also said that PDVSA has a “responsibility to take action to prevent an environmental catastrophe in Venezuelan waters”, warning that people in nearby countries would also be harmed.
PDVSA has previously denied that there was any danger to the ship. In September, Pedro Figueroa, sh Fashore executive director of the state oil company, Tweeted K Nabarima complied with the environmental protection procedure.
PDVSA cannot be reached immediately. I did not immediately respond to a request for comment from CBS News.
Hernandez said “no sanctions” could stop companies from transferring crude oil, calling it a “cheap excuse”.
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