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National Crisis Commission
The front of the ship is towed from the reef – but oil remains in the back of the ship
The captain of the ship that dumps hundreds of tons of oil off the coast of Mauritius has been arrested.
Sunil Kumar Nandeshwar, a 58-year-old Indian man, was accused of threatening safe navigation, police said. He has no comments yet.
The MV Wakashio ran aground on a coral reef, Pointe d’Esny, on July 25, carrying 4,000 tons of fuel oil, causing an ecological emergency.
Pointe d’Esny is a sanctuary for rare wildlife.
Mr. Nandeshwar made an appearance in the district court in the capital Port Louis to hear the prosecutors.
He will be held in a police cell until he returns to court on August 25.
Police said crew members questioned as part of their investigation informed them that there had been a birthday party on the ship the day it went aground.
Another theory being investigated is that the ship navigated near the shore to pick up WiFi signal, reports the BBC’s Yasine Mohabuth, in Port Louis.
The Japanese property MV Wakashio has already leaked about 1,000 tons of fuel oil into the unique biodiversity-rich marine ecosystem.
The ship splits in half over the weekend and the bow of the ship is towed off the reef.
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But the rear end remains attached to the reef beach with about 90 tons of the fuel that is thought to be on board.
Rough seas have made it too risky to remove the remaining oil from the ship, the national crisis commission said.
“Due to the unfavorable weather conditions, it is still risky to remove the remaining small amount of residual oil in the engine compartment,” the National Crisis Management Committee said on Monday night, adding that “oil pumping operations should resume as soon as the weather permits. “
Mauritius has said it will seek compensation for the leakage of “the owner and insurer” and the Japanese firm Nagashiki Shipping has promised to respond to requests for compensation.
A team of experts from Japan arrives in Mauritius on Wednesday to help with the clean-up, Japan’s foreign ministry said.
Earlier this month, Mauritian Prime Minister Pravind Jugnauth declared a state of emergency and called for international aid.
Volunteers took matters into their own hands, filling sacks with straw to create barriers against the oil – despite government orders to hand over the operation to the authorities.
On Monday, about 416 cubic meters of homemade barriers – so-called bombs – were collected and found saturated with oil, reports our correspondent.
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EcoMode Society
Communities have come together to protect their island
The amount of oil milled is relatively low compared to the large spills the world has seen in the past.
Unlike most previous offshore games, this has taken place near two environmentally protected marine ecosystems and the Blue Bay Marine Park Reserve, which is a wetland of international importance.
