Environment

Trinidad and Tobago begins assessment of ongoing oil spill from mystery ship

San Juan, Feb 13 (EFE).- Trinidad and Tobago’s Institute of Marine Affairs reported Tuesday that it is conducting initial assessments of a large oil spill caused by an unidentified overturned vessel off the southwest coast of Tobago.

The agency is assessing mangroves, beaches and other areas, and warned that ecologically sensitive areas such as Petit Trou are being seriously affected by the spill.

According to the Tobago Emergency Management Agency, the oil slick is approximately 88 kilometers long and 240 meters wide.

Barriers have been installed to contain the spill, and first responders have focused on cleaning beaches, isolating toxic material, and assessing the impact on wildlife as the tides change, according to officials and media reports.

At the time of writting, the spill was uncontained.

The Tobago Emergency Management Agency reported that it had received a report of an overturned vessel (later identified as the “Gulfstream”) on Wednesday, and Prime Minister Keith Rowley called a press conference on Sunday in which he described the disaster as a “national emergency.”

“This is a national emergency, and therefore it will have to be funded as an extraordinary expense,” Prime Minister Rowley stated. “We don’t know the full scope and scale of what is going to be required.”

The tourism sector has been particularly hard hit during the peak carnival season, as the Tobago House of Assembly has had to ban access to several beaches while cleanup efforts are underway.

In this regard, Rowley said that all efforts to clean up, mitigate and prevent further disasters will continue to intensify in the coming days in accordance with the Office of Disaster Preparedness Management (ODPM) protocol of action.

The Prime Minister has said that some “friendly” countries with experience in oil spills have offered “significant assistance” that Trinidad and Tobago may accept.

Although the oil has spread to the main beaches of the island of Tobago, Rowley said the event could have been “much worse” if it had affected certain areas such as Buccoo Reef and Nylon Pool, according to experts.

Authorities are also investigating the origin of the ship, as they do not yet know where it came from, who owns it or how much fuel it has on board.

“We’re not sure if it’s a freighter, a tanker, or a barge because only the keel of the vessel is visible. And its identifying physical characteristics are in water that we can’t penetrate for the moment,” Prime Minister Rowley explained.

Rowley has detailed that no distress calls could be found in national security records and that the ship could have been part of an “illegal” operation. EFE

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