It was July when a container ship ran aground off the coast of Mauritius. Today there are at least 47 cetacean carcasses.
It was late July when a container ship ran aground off the coast of Mauritius and collided with the coral reef. It was a real environmental disaster (the boat broke in two after a few days, releasing tons of fuel into the sea), the consequences of which will be paid for who knows how much. And today they are counted well 47 cetacean carcasses.
But alas, around the site of the crash and sinking of the front section of the MV Wakashio Wakashio, the number of dead animals continues to rise every day. A completely devastated fauna.
Environmental disaster in Mauritius: tons of fuel dumped into the sea
And not only that: the lack of transparency on the methods used in the recovery operation of the rear part of the ship (and, in the reclamation operations, also three sailors lost their lives), in the disposal of the removed oil and in the cleaning up along the coast, raises further concerns about possible long-term risks, due to the very likely use of chemical dispersants.
Suffice it to say that locals and environmentalists had already raised concerns over the controversial decision to deliberately sink the front section of the Wakashio in a secret location off the coast of Mauritius.
Thousands of people are protesting in the capital of Mauritius over the government’s handling of an oil spill from a grounded Japanese ship and the alarming discovery of dozens of dead dolphins in recent days. https://t.co/QLwKaC4FV6
— AP Africa (@AP_Africa) August 29, 2020
The fact is that two days later, dozens of dead dolphins and whales began to drift off the coast of Mauritius.
Goodbye splendid cetaceans
As we said, it is undoubtedly the marine fauna that pays the worst consequences. In recent days the carcasses of 47 cetaceans including peponcephalus, bottlenose dolphins and whales have been found or brought back to the beach. The cause of the deaths is yet to be clarified, but activists strongly doubt that this could be a coincidence and report that other specimens observed in the vicinity are swimming with difficulty.
One of the fishermen among the many volunteers involved in the cleaning operations has caught a puppy in distress while the mother tried to somehow keep him alive, swimming alongside him and holding his snout up.
Dead dolphins on the coast of Mauritius
Saddest thing ever…. pic.twitter.com/L45MpTyC27
— Mauritius Island (@MauritiusGuide) August 28, 2020
“My eyes filled with tears. I am the father of a young daughter, it is very difficult for me to see a mother fight and do everything possible to save her puppy, ”says Yasfeer Henaye.
Mauritius, satellite images show oil leaking and the exact moment when the ship broke in two
17 dolphins dead on Mauritius beach near oil spill site
The environmental disaster is there for all to see repercussions will be very serious for years both on the environment and on the lives of over a million people, who will experience an unprecedented crisis.
Source: Forbes
Read also:
Mauritius, all fuel was recovered from the ship. Volunteers donate their hair to save the sea
Mauritius: thousands of helpless volunteers are risking their health and high fines to contain the oil spill
