Locals collecting oil (left) and green leaves of trees (right) have turned black due to oil spilled from the tanker that sank in the Sundarbans Tuesday. — Focus Bangla photos
Four days after the furnace oil tanker sank in the Shela River of the Sundarbans, the forest department finally started mopping up the spilled oil manually Saturday using around 100 'dingi' boats (small sized local fishing boats) to clean up the river and its connecting canals, officials said.
"We have hired 100 'dingi' boats and employed 200 people aboard those in the morning to clean up water from the furnace oil. The drive will continue tomorrow (Sunday) too," Amir Hossain Chowdhury, divisional forest officer (DFO), Sundarbans East, told the FE Saturday evening.
"Thereafter, we will decide about further continuation of the drive considering the situation," Mr Chowdhury said.
In the meantime, the oil spill started leaving severe adverse impact on fisheries, aquatic mammals and also on the Sundarbans, world's biggest mangrove forest and UNESCO-declared natural heritage site.
Earlier on Friday, the locals spontaneously started mopping up the spread oil from the Shela River and its adjacent canals following a combined announcement of different government agencies to do so, officials said.
Decision of applying the traditional method to mop up the leaked furnace oil from the river and canals came following strong protest from the forest department to spray oil spill dispersant. State-owned Padma Oil Company Ltd set up purchasing centres in the local areas from where its contractors are buying oil from the locals at Tk 30 per litre.
Sources said in the last two days, Padma Oil Company bought 23,000 litres of furnace oil. Mr Chowdhury said the furnace oil normally remains attached with hyacinth and other debris in water of the river and connecting canals and the forest department people collect it manually from the dingi boats.
"As there is no alternative way to cleaning water from the spilled furnace oil, such as chemical usage, we have a plan to put water hyacinths in the downstream of the river so that those enter into it and the connecting cannels during tide, and cling to the furnace oil, facilitating to its collection," he added.
Shipping Minister Shajahan Khan visited the spot in the afternoon Saturday.
The Oil Tanker (OT) Southern Star-7, carrying eight crew, sank at the Shela River near Mongla early Tuesday last, spilling oil on both sides of the river and the canals flowing through the Sundarbans affecting more than 30,000 hectares of the forest, officials said.
The tanker with 350,000 litres of furnace oil went down after a cargo vessel, Total MT (Motor Tanker), hit it from behind. The United Nations (UN), in the meantime, expressed its concern over the oil spill in the Sundarbans.
Environmentalists have expressed grave concern about disastrous impact on the natural biodiversity in the world's largest mangrove forest. Sushasoner Jonno Nagorik (Sujan) formed a human chain in Bagerhat distinct demanding immediate and effective measures to clear water and save the environment.
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