Problems
Mauritius declares emergency as stranded ship spills fuel
A Japanese bulk carrier struck a coral reef off the Indian Ocean island nation of Mauritius on July 25 2020, spilling about 1,000 tonnes of fuel oil and triggering a state of “environmental emergency”. Scientists say the spill is the country’s worst ecological disaster, killing wildlife and damaging pristine waters that attract tourists from around the globe. The full impact is still unfolding. As residents scramble to mop up the oil slicks, they are seeing dead eels and fish floating in the water as fuel-soaked seabirds limp ashore.
Gallery
4
Timelines
2020
July 25
Almost all the remaining oil has been pumped from a Japanese ship that ran aground off the island of Mauritius in the Indian Ocean, but its initial spill of 1,000 tons of fuel has severely damaged the island's coral reefs and once pristine coast, environmental groups said Thursday. Nearly all the 3,000 tons of fuel left on the MV Wakashio has been emptied from the vessel stranded on a coral reef off the southeast coast, the ship's owners confirmed. Widening cracks in the ship's hull show that it might break up, but with little fuel remaining, further environmental damage is expected to be limited. "Today we can confirm that there is just a small amount of oil left on the ship. We are not threatened with an even worse disaster," Jean Hugue Gardenne, communications manager for the Mauritian Wildlife Foundation, told The Associated Press.