To find

To find

New

GE2020

Lifestyle

Trend

Drama

Things to eat

Things to do

Stories of us

Celebrity

Spore anguish

In my humble opinion

Videos

Foreign

Weekend

More

Technology

Viewpoints

Parliament

The story

Environment

AHTC test

Racing

To find

New

GE2020

COVID-19

Lifestyle

Trend

Drama

Things to eat

Things to do

Stories of us

Celebrity

Spore anguish

In my humble opinion

Videos

Foreign

Weekend

More

Technology

Viewpoints

Parliament

The story

Environment

AHTC test

Racing

To find

Back

A Japanese granelero, MV (Merchant Vessel) Wakashio, ran aground on a coral reef in southern Mauritius on July 25 and has since poured heavy oil into the Indian Ocean.

Shipping in the direction of Brazil from China, after refueling in Singapore.

Mauritius has declared an “environmental emergency” and sought the foreign community as the oil spill pollutes near coral reefs, beaches and lagoons, the BBC reported.

According to the BBC, the shipment carries about 4,000 tonnes of oil and has since sunk some 1,000 tonnes into the pristine marine environments of Pointe d’Esny, which is known to be a sanctuary for rare wildlife.

A document from the Mauritius National Parks and Conservation Services states that the 21.5-hectare Pointe d’Esny Wetland is “one of the few and largest remaining in Mauritius” and was designated as the third Ramsar site of foreign importance in 2011.

The site is home to mangrove forests and plants, fish, crustaceans and beach birds that are critically endangered.

The mangrove ecosystem also provides flood coverage for the local community.

In images uploaded to social media through Greenpeace Africa, oil slicks are seen over giant spaces in the coastal environment.

The domain around which the ship ran aground also includes vital wetlands and a marine park, called Blue Bay Marine Park.

Another video from Twitter user Hugo Clément mentions that oil is spreading to Devil’s Point, which is about 10 kilometers from the shipment stranded at Esny’s tip.

We see other people collecting oil in the coastal surroundings in Clement’s video:

According to Greg Rouxel, the oil spill goes back to the tip of the devil (east of the island). pic.twitter.com/4vtWXX09yb

Other videos through Clement also show how thick and dense oil is, and how it has covered a mangrove environment.

pic.twitter.com/bZpfByXVUG

Volunteers struggle to make barriers, straws and even human hair

Satellite photographs (such as the one shown below by the European Space Agency) show the extent of the oil spill, as oil is even observed several kilometers from the original when the shipment is grounded:

As the shipment continues to flee to the surrounding wetlands, thousands of volunteers have accumulated to plug the oil spill.

The Government of Mauritius said that some 400 sea dams had been deployed and investigations were underway on the cause of the spill.

Residents were reportedly dissatisfied with the delay in government actions, which is why many continued their cleanup efforts even though the government asked them to stop.

#Wakashio has been shipwrecked near the #Mauritien lagoon of Pointe d’Esny in the last 12 days. There is no clearly concrete action to prevent this. Now he’s spilling oil and is on his way to adapt to a marine disaster. Help! Climate – NatGeo @MarineLife_Aus @oceana @EU_Commission @Anon_Support pic.twitter.com/Px6OdqQ3we

Residents are putting straw in the fabric to create those straw barriers to restrict oil spills, as shown in this photo posted through Greenpeace Africa:

Some Mauritians have even cut and given their own hair to fill the barriers to extracting oil from the spill, according to the BBC.

In a study published in 2015, human hair absorbs three to nine times its weight in oil types.

Nonprofit teams have also brought other people together to create “craft booms,” dried sugar cane leaves and plastic bottles.

The Government of Mauritius said it would seek reimbursement from the ship’s owner, Nagashiki Shipping.

Nagashiki Shipping is committed to mitigating any damage.

Fortunately, Nagashiki Shipping updated that almost all of the oil remaining in the shipment had been pumped on August 12.

However, marine biologists said the 1,000 tons of oil spills were enough to have long-term consequences for marine and people’s livelihoods, the BBC reported.

Richard Steiner, a marine biologist who is also an oil spill adviser abroad, said the Mauritius government deserves to make an environmental impact on the assessment as soon as possible.

Steiner told the BBC that the effects of the oil spill will last for years.

Vikash Tatayah, conservation director of the non-governmental Mauritius Wildlife Foundation, said it is a setback to efforts to repair herb habitats for the more than 20 years since the government banned sand harvesting in 2000.

In addition to ecological impacts, other people whose livelihood depends on the pristine marine environment are also affected by the large oil spill.

The white sandy beaches attract tourists.

Top photo Greenpeace Africa/Facebook