It is a battle against time and the sea. After the freight accident off Mauritius, as much fuel as possible is pumped out. But it is already clear: the vacation paradise will need years to recover from it.
Port Louis (dpa) - After the shipwreck off the coast of the holiday paradise Mauritius, the authorities are working flat out to limit the oil disaster.
Fuel will be pumped out of the water, from the crashed freighter and from the coast, said government advisor Ken Arian of the German press agency. However, strong winds and high waves made the work more difficult. In addition, the oil has already caused enormous damage: "This is the worst ecological disaster Mauritius has ever seen."
The Japanese freighter "Wakashio" ran aground on a coral reef off the southeast coast of Mauritius about two weeks ago. The ship is located about two kilometers from the mainland in a lagoon near several nature reserves. Then on Thursday there was a crack in one of the tanks and oil leaked. The island nation in the Indian Ocean declared an environmental emergency and asked for help from abroad, including France.
The freighter had around 4,000 tons of fuel on board. So far, about 800 to 1000 tons have leaked, said Arian. Floating oil barriers have been set up. Around 400 tons of oil have now been pumped out of the water. Photos tweeted by the Ministry of the Environment showed a number of helpers building oil barriers out of hay.
The fuel will also be removed directly from the wreck. The broken tank is now empty, but there are still around 2,500 tons of fuel in the other tanks, Arian explained. Two tankers as well as tug boats and helicopters are supporting the campaign, as announced by the Japanese company Nagashiki Shipping, the owner of the crashed ship.
How the accident came about was so far unclear. In addition, many criticize that the authorities did not act early enough to avoid an oil spill. According to Arian, it was primarily the decision of the salvage company how to deal with "Wakashio". They initially tried to remove the freighter from the reef with the help of tug boats. Because of the rough sea, this was not possible. Pumping the oil out of the tanks was also not possible earlier because of the bad weather, he said.
Environmentalists fear that the oil spill could have devastating effects on marine ecology. The accident was a "huge catastrophe for ecology," said Arian. "I don't know how many years it will take for (...) this region to recover." Mauritius, with around 1.3 million inhabitants, attracts hundreds of thousands of tourists every year, which is an important industry for the island nation. The tourism sector is already suffering enormously because of the Corona crisis.
© dpa-infocom, dpa: 200810-99-114514 / 3