UN experts get to Mauritius to aid in oil spill
A team of US experts contain arrived on the island nation of Mauritius, to aid efforts to avoid an essential oil spill from even more damaging its pristine environment.
Salvage crews were in a competition against the clock because they pumped gasoline from the stricken Japanese-owned mass carrier MV Wakashio, which ran aground on a good coral reef previous month and started leaking oil five times ago.
Authorities experience warned the boat could split found in two at at any time, with cracks found in the hull developing larger by day.
The inter-agency US team will "support work to
mitigate impact of (the) oil spill on pure resources and about (the) population", read a statement from the UN office on Mauritius.
Japan has dispatched a good six-member team, including customers of its coastguard, to aid.
Meanwhile France has sent more than 20 tonnes of technical equipment -- including 1.3 kilometres (0.8 miles) of oil containment booms, pumping gear and protective equipment -- along with technical advisers from local Reunion, a French Indian Ocean island.
The Wakashio ran aground with 4,000 tonnes of fuel, and according to a statement by Mitsui OSK Lines, which operates the Wakashio, some 1,180 tonnes of fuel has leaked in to the surrounding powder blue waters.
Vashist Seegobin, a great ecology and conservation professor at the Mauritius University said that while the amount of petrol seeping from the boat seemed to have slowed, "it really is still leaking, we should stick to alert."
The bulker struck a reef at Pointe d'Esny, an ecological jewel fringed by idyllic beaches, colourful reefs, sanctuaries for rare and endemic wildlife, and protected wetlands.
A large number of volunteers, many smeared head-to-toe in black sludge, have proved along the coastline since Friday, stringing together miles of improvised floating barriers manufactured from straw in a good desperate attempt to restrain the sludge.
Mitsui OSK Lines said about 1,800 tonnes of petrol remained onboard the fragile vessel.
"We confirmed that the crack in the hull of the ship got extended. Since this ship is unable to navigate by itself, it is moored to a tugboat in order that you won't drift also if it is broken," explained the statement.
Legal sources, speaking in condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to speak to the press, told AFP that the Wakashio was coming from China to Brazil.
The captain, an Indian citizen, and many crew members were interrogated by police on Tuesday as authorities seek to determine why the vessel was so near to the Mauritian shore.
"Everything will depend on what the South African experts manage to log off the black package," said a source near the investigation.
Mauritius and its 1.3 million inhabitants depend crucially on the ocean for foodstuff and ecotourism, having fostered a good reputation as a good conservation success report and a world-class vacation spot for nature lovers. -- AFP
