CAPE TOWN, August 13 (ANA) - A second oil spill from the Japanese cargo ship which ran aground off the coast of Mauritius has been avoided, and the owner of the vessel is assessing compensation for the island’s biggest ecological disaster.
On Wednesday, Prime Minister Pravind Jugnauth said the remaining fuel in the vessel MV Wakashio had been removed by the salvage team, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.
"It was a race against the clock and I salute the excellent work to prevent another oil spill," he said.
"The weather was calm and it helped the pumping exercise. It also prevented the breakup of the boat, which is inevitable,” he continued.
Jugnauth, who spoke to the BBC in a live interview on Tuesday, was asked why it had taken so long for the government to respond since the vessel had run aground on July 25 and he had only declared a state of emergency on August 7.
He explained that he had relied on the advice of experts who had attempted to stabilise the ship instead of removing its oil, and said the weather had been one of the main factors for the oil leak.
On Wednesday, African News Agency (ANA) spoke to Sunil Dowarkasing, an environmental consultant and former Mauritian Member of Parliament and senior environmental adviser to the prime minister.
He said the government had no experts and had relied on the advice of experts from the Japanese company that reflected their interests rather than the interests of the Mauritian people or government.
MV Wakashio is owned by Nagashiki Shipping and operated by Mitsui OSK Lines (MOL), according to Reuters.
Today, the owners of Nagashiki Shipping said compensation for the oil spill was being assessed and the company took responsibility for the incident.
An online petition was set up recently on change.org which calls for the Japanese company to pay for the oil spill. It states in part that “after two full weeks the company offers only an apology and is yet to give any concrete assistance or even pledge any”.
- African News Agency (ANA); Editing by Yaron Blecher
