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The criticism, which was initially relatively mild, has grown as the environmental catastrophe has grown and the responses have not been harsher. On Saturday, dissatisfaction exploded in a massive demonstration with tens of thousands of participants in Port Louis.
“We don’t trust the government and the diluted information it gives us about how the oil leak has been handled,” Fabiola Monty, who works with environmental sciences, told Reuters.
Protesters are now demanding an investigation into the accident that occurred when a cargo ship ran aground on a coral reef. They also want to know if there is a connection to the more than 40 dead dolphins that have flown ashore on nearby beaches in recent days.
Mauritian authorities waiting for the results of the autopsy of 25 dead dolphins. So far, vets have examined two dead animals, they had wound marks but there were no traces of hydrocarbon particles on them, according to preliminary results. Local environmental law group Eco-Sud wrote in a statement on Friday that representatives of civil society must be present at the autopsies and demand a second statement from independent experts.
Photo: Beekash Roopun / AFP
Photo: Beekash Roopun / AFP
The oil leak is described as the worst in the history of Mauritius. The Japanese freighter MV Wakashio ran aground on July 25, two weeks later it began to lose oil. The ship was wrecked and most of the shipwreck sank in the Indian Ocean at a depth of 3,180 meters. A small part remains on the reef.
The exact scope of the environmental disaster is not yet clear. Some 1,000 tons of oil are believed to have spilled into the sea. The accident has ruined 20 years of wildlife and plant restoration that began when the government banned sand mining in the area, according to the Mauritius Wildlife Foundation.
Much of the oil has been harvested, but sensitive mangroves, important for the reproduction of many animals, have been severely affected.
