Pressmediaofindia
Related Articles
28-02-2024
CARACAS: Oil leaking from a capsized barge off the coast of Tobago has spread hundreds of miles to reach the Caribbean island of Bonaire.
Officials on Bonaire, which is located 50 miles (80km) north of the Venezuelan coast, said the oil posed a “serious threat to both humans and nature”.
The island is the latest to have been contaminated with oil from the barge which ran aground earlier this month.
It is still unclear who owns the barge and what may have caused it to sink.
The authorities on Bonaire, which is a special municipality of the Netherlands, said the island’s east coast, including Sorobon, Lac and Lagun, had been polluted.
They also warned that the island’s mangrove, fish and coral ecosystems were at risk.
The oil leak was first spotted by the Trinidad and Tobago Coast Guard on 7 February. They traced it to a barge which had become lodged on a reef about 150m (500 ft) off Tobago’s southern coast.
There was no crew on board the barge and the Coast Guard said it had not received any distress signals. They did, however, spot the name “Gulfstream” painted on the side of the vessel.
Trinidad and Tobago authorities said the barge had originated in Panama and had been towed by a tugboat. They said it appeared “to have been bound for Guyana”.
An investigation conducted by online investigative journalism site Bellingcat suggests the barge stopped in late January in Pozuelos Bay, a Venezuelan port used by the state-owned PdVSA oil company.
According to Bellingcat, the barge may have started leaking oil as early as 3 February. The whereabouts of the boat which had tugged the barge are not currently known.
The prime minister of Trinidad and Tobago declared a national emergency on 11 February. The country’s Office of Disaster Preparedness and Management has been trying to contain the spillage but oil has been continuing to leak from the barge.
The Trinidad and Tobago Weather Center said satellite images suggested the oil slick had spread into the marine area of Grenada as early as 14 February.
From there, it appears to have been carried further westward to Bonaire.
Officials on Bonaire are particularly concerned for the mangroves, which are among the best preserved in the Caribbean.
By Thursday, the slick had reached about 144 km (89 miles) into the Caribbean Sea and was moving at a rate of 14 km (9 miles) per hour, authorities said.
“This looks like it will continue for a few weeks. I cannot simply sit down and do nothing,” said Edwin Ramkisson, who makes a living fishing for snapper and salmon in Lowlands, on Tobago’s Atlantic shore. “I need help cleaning my boat before moving to another port on the Caribbean side.”
The barge is believed to have carried as much as 35,000 barrels of fuel oil, Tobago’s officials have said. The spill has blackened the island’s beaches, affecting wildlife and tourism.
Several beach and golf resorts in Tobago that typically receive foreign tourists have been forced to close access to the ocean. The nearby Scarborough cruise ship port is being protected from the spill by containment booms. (Int’l Monitoring Desk)
