JOHANNESBURG (AP) – Urgent efforts intensified Monday in Mauritius to empty a stranded Japanese shipment of about 2,500 oil before shipment broke and increased pollution from the island’s once pristine Indian Ocean coast.
More than 1,000 tons of fuel have already been dumped on the east coast of Mauritius, polluting its coral reefs, lagoons and coastline.
Strong winds and waves hit the Wakashio MV, which appeared symptoms of separation and spillage of the hydrocarbons from its cargo left in the waters surrounding Mauritius. The granelero ran aground on a coral reef two weeks ago.
“We expect the worst,” said Jean Hugues Gardenne, director of the Mauritian Wildlife Foundation.
“The shipment shows very giant cracks. We think it will break in part at any time, no more than two days from now,” Gardenne said. There’s so much oil left in the shipment, so the crisis can get worse. It is vital to remove as much oil as possible. Helicopters feed gradually, ton consistent ton.
French experts arrived from the nearby island of Reunion and were deploying barricades to check for further oil spills, Gardenne said. France sent a military ship, army planes and technical advisers after Mauritius requested the alien on Friday.
“The dams deserve to be in position in a few hours, which we hope will help protect the seashore from additional damage,” he said. The booms will be the makeshift barriers that thousands of volunteers in Mauritius have created from fabric tubes filled with straw and sugar cane leaves.
In the midst of a raging sea, efforts were also being made to bring enough other ships in combination together to pump giant amounts of oil from the MV Wakashio.
“The danger of the shipment being broken in two is spreading throughout the hour,” said environmental representative Sunil Dowarkasing, former MP of Mauritius. “The cracks have reached the base of the shipment and there is still a lot of fuel in the shipment. Two shipments are directed towards it so that fuel can be pumped, but it is very difficult.”
The shipment ran aground on July 25, however, the oil paints he was carrying only began last week when the hull cracked and began emptying fuel into the sea, according to Dowarkasing.
MV Wakashio’s owner, Nagashiki Shipping, said Monday that two ships had arrived at the site to pump oil from the endangered ship. “A pipe connection has effectively been established in Array … and the oil movement is underway,” the company said in a statement. He said he ran with the government of Mauritius “to mitigate the spill. The main goal at this time is to reduce the effects of the spill and protect the environment.”
Pressure on Prime Minister Pravind Jugnauth’s government is mounting on why he has not taken swift action to avert an environmental disaster. Jugnauth declared the oil spill a national emergency, but some citizens say he acted too late.
The opposition and activists are calling for the resignation of the Ministers of Environment and Fisheries. Volunteers ignored a government order to leave the cleanup operation to the authorities.
Japan announced Sunday that it would send a team of six experts to help.