4000t of oil on the verge on spilling next to Mauritius, West Indian Ocean - Another free oil package

[F/lying Frankenstein]

To make things simple: Two weeks ago, a Japanese ore hauler end up beached on the Mauritius' south-east coast. The Mauritian government, true to his reputation of corruption and slowness, waited twelve days before reacting.

Second Edit : I've fucked up my initial reading, the ship is a ore hauler, not a tanker and I am dumb.

Now the boat threatens to break, and spill 4000 tons of oil. The economical consequences are quite hard to fathom: Tourism is the major industry of Mauritius, and the entire surrounding region also relies on tourism, more or less.

White sands beaches are quite the attraction there, and oil mucking it up would be less than great..

Ecologically, you have at least two coral barriers in range of the tanker, a lot of fishes, and other little details.

Politically, Mauritius has gone and asked France for help ( Reunion Island being a French region, and being the closest island to Mauritius )

Edit: I forgot to add that they also asked help from the U.N. I stand corrected, my bad.

Both sides are trying to be reassuring, Mauritians claiming that all is under control, French claiming that they will not be affected even if the oil spills ( An old tradition: any natural disaster will always dodge French lands)

WaPo tries to cover it:

http://archive.md/aptYJ

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/i-am-so-angry-cargo-ship-leaks-tons-of-fuel-into-protected-coral-reef-and-wetlands/2020/08/07/fcb47c68-d8ae-11ea-a788-2ce86ce81129_story.html

Asia Argento's old date and France's premiere woke journalist Hugo Clement has some nice images of the tanker, that I'll borrow.

I'll try to keep an eye on this.

 

[Dell Conagher]

Sounds like Mauritius is in urgent need of some freedom

 

[some Sketchy dude]

I've read some articles saying that they appealed to the UN as a whole as well. According to their spill plan (https://www.itopf.org/knowledge-resources/countries-territories-regions/countries/mauritius/), they should have easily been able to clean it up with locally available resources up to a spill of 10 million tons. International intervention is supposed to be reserved for spills of over 100 million tons.

 

[F/lying Frankenstein]

They should have easily been able to clean it up with locally available resources up to a spill of 10 million tons. International intervention is supposed to be reserved for spills of over 100 million tons.

Huh, I didn't know that they had a plan for this. ( It is the first time that I see such a situation in this region.)

I'm not a Maurician, but, well, their government has its fair share of corruption, ineffeciency and nepotism. Not too much of it, but they still have a remarkable amount. Which can explain their weakness on that front.

And sorry for forgetting about the global call for help, its just that not many places can send help there quickly, or send help at all.

Beyond France ( Reunion Island ), you have at best South Africa, or Madagascar. Anything else will have to come from the Arabian Peninsula or from military bases in Djibouti, if help wants to come in time.

 

[Lady Adjani]

From the article in the OP

By Friday afternoon, local environmental organizations estimated that at least a quarter of the ship’s nearly 4,000 tons of thick, black fuel oil had seeped into an ecologically crucial area of reefs, inlets and islands that are home to multiple renowned conservation sites and endangered species.

Sounds like a pretty grim situation already, even if they somehow managed to miraculously make the ship disappear overnight. The entire fiasco is pretty baffling, why wait 12 days before doing anything? Even from a purely selfish point of view isn't it in your best interest not to have a major ecological disaster on your own fucking shores?

 

[Milkis]

From the article in the OP

Sounds like a pretty grim situation already, even if they somehow managed to miraculously make the ship disappear overnight. The entire fiasco is pretty baffling, why wait 12 days before doing anything? Even from a purely selfish point of view isn't it in your best interest not to have a major ecological disaster on your own fucking shores?

I can't back anything up but I get the feeling there were a lot of open palms waiting for greasing

 

[some Sketchy dude]

From the article in the OP

Sounds like a pretty grim situation already, even if they somehow managed to miraculously make the ship disappear overnight. The entire fiasco is pretty baffling, why wait 12 days before doing anything? Even from a purely selfish point of view isn't it in your best interest not to have a major ecological disaster on your own fucking shores?

According to Bloomberg (https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.bl...ss-to-beach-as-oil-leaks-from-stranded-vessel) bad weather conditions lead to the initial breach and were also the reason the salvage operation was delayed. However, the explanation is very vague and is a quote from the owner of the vessel, so that may just be damage control.

Specifically:
“Due to bad weather and constant pounding over the past few days, the starboard side bunker tanker has been breached and an amount of fuel oil has escaped into the sea,” said Nagashiki Shipping Co. Ltd, owner and manager of the vessel, in an emailed statement. “In view of poor sea conditions salvage efforts are currently on hold.”

 

[ColtWalker1847]

I can't back anything up but I get the feeling there were a lot of open palms waiting for greasing

Correct. They are fighting over who gets what in the salvage rights.

This isn't a huge "everything is fucked" spill. It's just what's in the fuel tanks of the ship. It looks to be an ore hauler, not a tanker. The immediate area (basically what's in the picture) is going to take a few years to recover and some beaches nearby might have some little brown Bunker C turd balls wash up for the rest of the summer but currents will spread it out and it shouldn't have any major long term effects. 4000 tons is nothing compared to the enormity of the Indian Ocean.

 

[F/lying Frankenstein]

I can't confirm the sea conditions at that particular time but..The region is currently in Winter.

Now, for you northern hemisphere folks, winter around there means a fuckton of cold wind and a far more treacherous sea. So yes, there might be some truth in what the owner says.

And yes, I got hoodwinked by WaPo there on what the ship was..I have failed on that point.

 

[Male Idiot]

Where is the Climate Goblin expert to help out the poor coloured people?

 

[F/lying Frankenstein]

Alright, a few news from local, French-speaking news websites ( Because I don't really know their Mauritian counterparts. ). Sorry for the rough update, it is getting late and I'm a bit tired.

The ship seems to slowly sink, according to bystanders. Approximately 400t has already been spilled, and the Mauritian autorities argue that the sea is still too poor to allow the pumping of the rest of the oil.

Mauritius found someone to help them: The Greeks. A plane filled with gear meant to contain the oil spill is on its way from Greece.

( Announced in a press conference that I could not watch, here is the french article saying that: https://www.linfo.re/ocean-indien/i...de-la-grece-attendus-apres-des-fuites-d-huile )

The current Prime Minister of Mauritius has gone and declared that his country do not possess the means to contain such a spill, to which Macron confirmed that French help is on the way.
(https://mobile.twitter.com/EmmanuelMacron/status/1292026358516908032)

The French have sent a dozen experts to advise the Mauritians, a military airplane filled with anti-pollution gear and a warship, the Champlain, also filled with pumps and filters.

( The french article for that part: https://la1ere.francetvinfo.fr/reun...iel-casa-champlain-sont-mobilises-859930.html )

Will archive that tomorrow.

 

[Technetium]

They managed to pump out 3000 tonnes, but about 800 had already been spilled. As has already been said in this thread, if they had acted immediately there wouldn't have been any damage, because the tanker only started leaking more than 10 days after it got stuck.

(French) https://www.leparisien.fr/environne...e-pompe-des-reservoirs-12-08-2020-8367144.php

http://archive.md/EwpNE

Also, back in 2006, another tanker run by the same Japanese company (Mistui OSK Lines) caused a 4500t spillage, which is more than five times as much as has been leaked now in Mauritius. But because it happened at high sea, with a low chance of the oil reaching shores or shallow waters, the spill was just left to dilute and evaporate.

(French) https://www.lexpress.fr/actualite/s...eja-impliquee-dans-des-accidents_2132744.html

http://archive.md/IPxD3

 

[F/lying Frankenstein]

Alright, a few news:

The Wakashio broke in two. The forward part will be brought away from the coast ( 14.8 kilometers ) and sunk there. According to the Mauritians, the wreckage is mostly empty and can be sunk there safely. The fate of the rest of the ship is unknown for now.

Fortunately, the Mauritians had pumped the leaking oil in the breach, so no futher losses and spilled oil. ( 800 liters have been wasted in da water, and the Mauritians are trying to save their coral reef nearby.

Consequences remain unclear, the goddamn French overseas minister claimed that Reunion Island might see a few oil balls on the beaches.

The Mauritians authorities claim that the catastrophe is contained.
The way I see it, the big revelation from this mess is the corruption in Mauritius' government, and any temporary environmental damage might be avoided.
I guess this is all.

 

[Abortions4All]

That place has the most incredible beaches, seafood, and water activities. It's absolutely gorgeous, and the sea life is stuff you've probably never seen before because of the location in the Indian Ocean off of the African coast.

The feel of the island is that it is pristine. It's where the dodo used to live, and humans have only occupied it for a few hundred years. Lots of different racial/ethnic backgrounds living in integrated neighborhoods without the kinds of racial trouble you see in other countries. Lots of European tourism bringing in the cash.

I'm sure the end of tourism in 2020 was already devastating. This will be worse. I'd always sworn I'd get back there someday and bring some loved ones I know would be massively into it, but now I wonder whether it will still have the same feel at all. The Mauritians I met were all pretty great people, and pragmatic, so I hope they apply that pragmatism to figure out a good way out of this mess.

 

[Technetium]

Alright, a few news:

The Wakashio broke in two. The forward part will be brought away from the coast ( 14.8 kilometers ) and sunk there. According to the Mauritians, the wreckage is mostly empty and can be sunk there safely. The fate of the rest of the ship is unknown for now.

Fortunately, the Mauritians had pumped the leaking oil in the breach, so no futher losses and spilled oil. ( 800 liters have been wasted in da water, and the Mauritians are trying to save their coral reef nearby.

Consequences remain unclear, the goddamn French overseas minister claimed that Reunion Island might see a few oil balls on the beaches.

The Mauritians authorities claim that the catastrophe is contained.
The way I see it, the big revelation from this mess is the corruption in Mauritius' government, and any temporary environmental damage might be avoided.
I guess this is all.

It's weird that the other day I saw this story on the Guardian's main page for the first time, with an alarmist title kind of like "Mauritius on the verge of environmental catastrophe" even though it was published at the time when approx. 1/4 of the oil had already leaked and 3/4 pumped away; apparently the 166 remaining tonnes (out of 4000+) were going to be the deciding factor for it being a catastrophe.
I hadn't seen the Guardian mention anything about this back when it really was still only on the verge of catastrophe (i.e. during those 10 or so days during which the ship hadn't started leaking yet) but maybe I just missed it.

 

[Technetium]

Latest news is that the ship approached the Mauritian coast to get mobile network service (archive), in order for the crew to be able to contact their families and get some updates on the Covid situation.

The crew of the vessel owned by Nagashiki Shipping Co. and operated by Mitsui O.S.K. Lines Ltd., both Japanese companies, "wanted to talk to (their) families because they are aware of COVID-19 in their countries," the source told Kyodo News in a recent phone interview.

However it seems that everyone was still hungover from a birthday party they had held on board for one of the crew. It is still unclear if the actual person commandeering the ship when it got stuck had also taken part in the previous night's partying.

Before the ship ran aground, a birthday party had been held for a member of the multinational crew, comprised of three Indians, one Sri Lankan and 16 Filipinos.

Alcohol was consumed at the party, which had been attended by the off-duty captain and most crew members. It is unclear if the first officer, who was in charge of steering the vessel, participated.

So just like the cruise ship that sunk in Italy in 2012 (Costa Concordia), this accident happened because of pure human error.

EDIT - forgot to include link to the news article because I'm a pure human error

 

[F/lying Frankenstein]

Forgot to post it, but well, the bigger half of the Wakashio has been "safely" sunk two days ago. ( The French were dissatisafied with the option, but agreed, on the condition that their experts' opinions had been followed )

French Source

archive

Key points;
- The ship had no cargo
- The prowl half of the ship has been sunk 20km away from the coast
- The stern remains where it is for now and requires depollution and desassembly

Furthermore, the small part that still remains beached needs to be depolluted and evacuated from the area.
The task falls to the ship owner, and they have two months to do so, before the stormy season begins.

The captain, if I heard things right, has been arrested and is currently being interrogated by Mauritian autorities.

I believe that the situation has been resolved, for now. Until the matter goes in front of the court, I guess.

Edit : I'd like to apologize for my sloppyness in updating this post, and I thank everybody for their commitment until today.

 

[F/lying Frankenstein]

I just ate Crow, at least a dozen of them.
So, the news.

At least 17 Dolphins ended up beached on the East coast of Mauritius. People are fucking angry there, because traces of oil have been found in the maws of the animals.
So this might be the result of the Wakashio debacle...Autopsies are ongoing, we will know for certain in a while. Will update later with videos

 

[Technetium]

Forgot to post it, but well, the bigger half of the Wakashio has been "safely" sunk two days ago. ( The French were dissatisafied with the option, but agreed, on the condition that their experts' opinions had been followed )

French Source

archive

Key points;
- The ship had no cargo
- The prowl half of the ship has been sunk 20km away from the coast
- The stern remains where it is for now and requires depollution and desassembly

Furthermore, the small part that still remains beached needs to be depolluted and evacuated from the area.
The task falls to the ship owner, and they have two months to do so, before the stormy season begins.

The captain, if I heard things right, has been arrested and is currently being interrogated by Mauritian autorities.

I believe that the situation has been resolved, for now. Until the matter goes in front of the court, I guess.

Edit : I'd like to apologize for my sloppyness in updating this post, and I thank everybody for their commitment until today.

Just to be clear, they also cleaned out all of the diesel fuel that was left in the ship. The two months deadline is to properly dismantle the half of the ship that is still stuck. So yes, there is no further risk of oil spillage anymore. Now it remains to be seen how bad the oil that was spilled will be for the area. Hopefully the dolphin story is the worst of it and not just the beginning...

 

[F/lying Frankenstein]

https://www.lexpress.mu/article/381779/bilan-officiel-18-dauphins-delectre-echoues

A mauritian article on the matter, written in French ( My apologies, I just can't find an English source on the matter )
Key points:
- 18 dolphins found dead on the beach
- A press conference is underway by the Mauritian government about the reasons of their death. Has been going for an hour and fifty minutes by my count.

I'll try to update once I find a proper summary of what was said.