Mauritius oil spill: human hair, leaves used to make booms to stem slick from Japanese ship
- Mauritius has warned of a ‘worst-case scenario’ if the Japanese-owned MV Wakashio breaks up and more oil leaks into the Indian Ocean
- Anxious Mauritians are making booms out of sugar cane leaves, plastic bottles and donated hair, which absorbs oil
Conservationists said they were finding dead fish as well as seabirds covered in oil, increasing fears of an ecological catastrophe despite a massive local clean-up operation that includes making floating booms from leaves, straw and human hair.
Jugnauth said the leak from a damaged oil tank on board the stricken vessel, the MV Wakashio, had stopped but that it still had 2,000 tonnes of oil in two other, undamaged tanks.
“The salvage team has observed several cracks in the ship hull, which means that we are facing a very serious situation,” Jugnauth said in a televised speech. “We should prepare for a worst-case scenario. It is clear that at some point the ship will fall apart.”
The MV Wakashio is owned by the Nagashiki Shipping Company and operated by Mitsui OSK Line. Nagashiki Shipping said on Monday that two ships arrived at the scene to pump oil from the endangered vessel. “A hose connection has been successfully established … and the transfer of fuel oil is under way.”
It said it is working with Mauritian authorities “to mitigate the spill. The primary focus at this time is reducing the effects of the spill and protecting the environment”.
Mauritius has declared a state of emergency and former colonial ruler France has sent aid in what environmental group Greenpeace said could be a major ecological crisis. Japan has also sent help.
“We are starting to see dead fish. We are starting to see animals like crabs covered in oil, we are starting to see seabirds covered in oil, including some which could not be rescued,” said Vikash Tatayah, conservation director at Mauritius Wildlife Foundation, a non-governmental organisation.
The nearby Blue Bay Marine Park, known for its corals and myriad fish species, has so far escaped damage but a lagoon containing an island nature reserve, the Ile Aux Aigrettes, is already covered in oil, he said.
At least 1,000 tonnes of oil is estimated to have leaked so far, with 500 tonnes salvaged.
Tourism is a major contributor to the Mauritius economy, generating 63 billion rupees (US$1.6 billion) last year.
Mauritians are making booms out of sugar cane leaves, plastic bottles and hair that people are voluntarily cutting off and floating on the sea to prevent the oil spill spreading, island resident Romina Tello told Reuters.
“Hair absorbs oil but not water,” Tello, founder of Mauritius Conscious, an eco-tourism agency, said by phone.
“There’s been a big campaign around the island to get hair,” said Tello, 30, who spent the weekend helping clean black sludge from mangrove swamps.
Videos posted online showed volunteers sewing leaves and hair into nets to float on the surface and corral the oil until it can be sucked up by hosepipes.
Diving centres, fishermen and others have all joined in the clean-up effort, with guest houses offering free accommodation to volunteers and hair salons offering discounts to those donating hair, Tello said.
The Mauritian government is also using sea booms to control the spill and vacuuming up oil from the water’s surface.
Pressure is mounting on the Mauritian government to explain why it did not take immediate action to avert the environmental disaster. Jugnauth has declared the oil spill a national emergency, but some residents say he acted too late.
The opposition and activists are calling for the resignation of the environment and fisheries ministers.
The Japanese owners of the ship apologised to the people of Mauritius on Saturday.
“To protect the environment, we will do our utmost to recover the leaked oil, pump out the oil that remains in the ship and remove the ship safely while coordinating with Mauritius and relevant Japanese agencies,” Nagashiki Shipping said.
Additional reporting by Associated Press
