Mauritius is fighting an environmental disaster: a freighter ran aground and lost oil. Now it has torn the ship in two. The recovery of the wreck turns out to be complicated.
Port Louis (AP) - Bad weather has delayed the recovery of the freighter "Wakashio", which broke up in front of the vacation paradise Mauritius.
The ship was torn in two on Saturday, and by Sunday the wreckage was about 30 meters apart at sea, as the news portal "lemauricien" reported, citing Alain Donat from the Ministry of Shipping. That made the work more difficult. Meanwhile, the ship's owner, Japanese company Nagashiki Shipping, confirmed the freighter's split in two on Sunday.
The 300 meter long ship from Japan ran aground on a coral reef around three weeks ago. After a tank burst, more than 1,000 tons of fuel spilled into the lagoon off Pointe d'Esny. The government speaks of the worst ecological disaster the vacation paradise has ever experienced.
The front part of the ship is to be towed. The plan is to sink it at least 1,000 kilometers from the coast. This will mean great efforts by the abortion of the wreckage, said the independent environmental advisor Sunil Korwarkasing of the German press agency dpa. The rear part should initially remain on the reef. Nagashiki Shipping claims that what happens to him afterwards is in discussion with the local authorities.
On Sunday there should still be 40 tons of oil on board the wrecked freighter, as environmental expert Korwarkasing told the dpa and appealed to the local police. Authorities tried to get the oil off the ship before it could get into the sea, he said. Oil residues that could not be pumped out had already leaked on Friday. Nagashiki Shipping reported on Thursday that almost all of the remaining 3,000 tons of oil had been disembarked.
Mauritius declared an environmental emergency last week. However, the authorities were accused of acting too slowly. The environmental organization Greenpeace calls for an investigation into the accident. It is unclear why the ship was so close to the reef and why it took days for the authorities to arrive at the scene of the accident. Japan's Environment Minister Shinjiro Koizumi announced on Sunday that his country would send a team of experts to assess damage.
© dpa-infocom, dpa: 200816-99-190099 / 2
Report lemauricia, French