 |
This photo shows oil
tanker, Southern Star-7, carrying 3.58 lakh litres of furnace oil, sinks in the
Shela river in Sundarbans after being hit by a cargo vessel in Mongla early
Tuesday. Photo: Star
|
A large oil spill in the
Sundarbans today continued to spread through a wide network of rivers and
channels criss-crossing the world's largest mangrove forest endangering its rich
biodiversity, a day after an oil tanker carrying 350,000 litres of furnace oil
sank in a river.
Forest officials said
oil spread over a 25-kilometre stretch while the slick was gradually engulfing
more areas exposing authorities to a state of virtual helplessness to combat
the situation.
"We have sought a
machine from (northeastern) Chittagong Port (authority) to remove the oil.It is
on its way," administrative chief of the region or divisional
commissioner, Abdus Samad, told media.
He said that Bangladesh
Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA) has also sent two vessels to retrieve
the tanker and "the rescue vessels too are on their way to the
scene".
The Commander of navy's
Khulna region Monir Mallick said that they were planning to use ancient method
of using bamboos and banana trees to remove the oil from the water surface.
But eyewitnesses said
they saw no tangible initiative to retrieve the sunken vessel or remove the
spill till mid-day.
"With lack of
logistics to deal with such a situation, the forest department so far could do
nothing to stop oil from spreading through the river and canal networks,"
one of the eyewitnesses said.
A Coastguard official
said oil slick was nearing the crucial Shoronkhola Range of Sundarbans while it
overnight blackened waters up to the Pasur River on one side stretching over 20
kilometres from Mrigamari in the Shela River, where the accident took place.
Mrigamari is a sanctuary
for dolphins while experts said the spill would leave a severe impact also on
other aquatic animals and fishes of the Sundarbans.
But forest officials
said they could not determine yet the exact extent of the spill but feared if
the spill continued to spread it might deal a serious blow to the biodiversity
of the forest.
The forest department
has set up a three-member committee for the investigation into the capsize of
the oil tanker that sank after a collision with a cargo vessel early yesterday.
"We (forest
department) have also lodged a general diary with police against the owners of the
two ships involved in collision," a forest department spokesman told
reporters in Dhaka.
The tanker began leaking
its cargo soon after it sank while initial reports suggested an empty cargo
vessel hit it from the back apparently due to loss of visibility caused by
dense winter fog.
The tanker's owner, on
the other hand, has filed a criminal case against the cargo vessel owner with
Mongla Police Station.
The Sundarbans forest,
which cover 26,000 square kilometres in India and Bangladesh, is also the
habitat of famous Royal Bengal Tigers
Source: outlook india.
10 December 2014
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