A disaster for the inhabitants of Trinidad and Tobago, a small Caribbean archipelago which was preparing to welcome thousands of tourists for the carnival season.
Last Wednesday, a mysterious ship capsized near the coast of Trinidad and Tobago, spilling thousands of liters of oil into the usually crystal clear waters of the small island.
At least 15 km of coastline were contaminated by the oil spill.
The authorities are preparing to declare a national emergency.
“We are going to move to level three,” or the national emergency situation, said Farley Augustine, a senior official on the island.
A thousand volunteers have been working since Thursday to clean up the damage from the oil spill and divers are trying to plug the leak from the boat.
This mysterious “Gulfstream” ship with an unidentified flag did not issue any emergency calls.
Even more troubling: its crew has not been found.
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For the moment, "all the efforts of the coast guard are aimed at containing the oil spill (...) It will take some time before analyzing the reasons (for the disaster), knowing where the ship came from and where he was going,” said a government source.
The Environmental Management Agency has already documented damage to the reef and beaches on Tobago's Atlantic coast.
“The current oil spill off the coast of Tobago not only threatens the island's valuable marine ecosystems and the livelihoods of many of its small businesses, but it also highlights the gaping security gaps at our border », lamented an opposition MP, Dave Tancoo.
In 1979, the country experienced one of the largest oil spills in its history when two tankers, one carrying 276,000 tonnes of crude oil and the other 200,000, collided off the coast of Tobago.