The boat aground off the island of Mauritius is in danger of breaking. The “irreversible and irreparable damage to the marine environment” are to be expected, according to the oceanographer Vassen Kauppaymuthoo.
Should he fear the worst for the island of Mauritius ? Two weeks after the sinking of the MV Wakashio with its edge 3 800 tons of fuel oil and 200 tonnes of diesel, the response teams on the island of Mauritius are trying to prevent further leakage of oil in its waters in paradise.
A crack in the hull of the boat has already resulted in a leak coming defile the coral reefs, lagoons and mangroves of this island in the Indian ocean. The bulk carrier aground on the reef now threatens to break.
“The cracks have reached the top of the boat. Therefore, it is very likely that the boat breaks from one moment to the other, exposing large quantities of fuel oil into the lagoon of Pointe d’esny and in the lagoon of Mahebourg,” says Vassen Kauppaymuthoo, an environmental engineer and oceanographer.
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More than 1,000 of the 4,000 tons of fuel transported by the MV Wakashio have already dumped in the sea, according to Akihiko Ono, the vice-president of Mitsui OSK Lines, the japanese company that operated the ship.
Located on the southeast coast of the island, Pointe d’esny is an ecological jewel known for its conservation sites classified internationally, its turquoise waters and its protected wetlands.
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black Tide in Mauritius
Mauritius : the company behind the MV Wakashio already been involved in accidents in Mauritius: “The type of fuel oil used by the Wakashio could facilitate recovery of the” black Tide to the island of Mauritius : “It is the whole ecosystem that is in danger,”
“This area has one of the largest areas of seagrass marine who serves precisely to climate resilience as well carbon. Looking at the transparent water, which was transparent before, we no longer see the fish. So the situation is really alarming at the level of the marine ecosystem and it will certainly be irreversible”, warning Vassen Kauppaymuthoo.
