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Virtual tour of Mauritius / REUTERS
The tanker leaks tons of oil into surrounding waters
Volunteers in Mauritius are scrambling to make cordons to keep leaking oil from a tanker away from the island.
MV Wakashio landed on July 25 on a coral reef off the island of the Indian Ocean. The tanker has since started leaking tons of oil into surrounding waters.
Local people make straw pipes in an attempt to contain and absorb the oil.
Mauritius is home to world-famous coral reefs, and tourism is a crucial part of the nation’s economy. There are concerns about the island’s ecosystem.
Images posted online by local media show volunteers making straw tubes to act as a barrier. Some people have gathered the straw from fields to fight the game.
Others have made their own tubes with tights and hair to add to the hassle.
Volunteers have also worked on cleaning the island’s beaches.
“People have realized that they have to take matters into their own hands. We are here to protect our fauna and flora,” Ashok Subron, an environmental activist, told AFP.
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Maxar Technologies / Reuters
Satellite images show the extent of the oil spill
Mitsui OSK Lines, the ship’s operators, said they had tried their own containment bombs to locate the ship but had not been successful due to rough seas.
Helicopters are trying to move some of the ship’s fuel and diesel.
It is thought that the ship, registered in Panama, had about 4000 tons of fuel on board when it ran aground. All staff on board were evacuated.
People of at least 1,000 tons of oil are trapped in the waters around the island nation.
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Environmentalists are concerned about the impact on the country’s ecosystem.
Happy Khamule from Greenpeace Africa warned that “thousands of” animal species “were at risk of drowning in a sea of pollution, with dire consequences for the economy, food security and health of Mauritius”.
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Virtual tour of Mauritius / REUTERS
At least 1,000 tonnes of oil are thought to be leaking from the ship
In a news conference, Akihiko Ono, executive vice president of Mitsui OSK Lines, “professionally” apologized for the game and for “the big problems we’ve caused.”
He promised that the company “would do everything in its power to solve the problem”.
On Friday, Prime Minister of Mauritius Pravind Jugnauth declared a state of emergency and called for help.
France has sent a military aircraft with pollution control equipment from its nearby island of Reunion.
Mr. Jugnauth is set to hold an emergency meeting later on Sunday, thanks to fears that bad weather could complicate efforts to contain the oil.
