Hyacinth, water spray figure in oil spill fight

FE Team | Published: December 16, 2014 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2026 06:01:00

KHULNA, Dec 15 (UNB): Six days after the oil tanker capsize in the Shela River, Forest Department officials started on Monday spraying water to remove oil
from trees and grasses.
Amir Hossain Chowdhury, Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) of the Sundarbans East Zone, said they started removing oil with three water pumps from plants and grasses near the Chandpai Range of the forest office around 2:30 am.
Besides, they brought hyacinth from Sharankhola and Bagi areas in the Sundarbans which will be dumped into the canals and on riverbanks for soaking oil, and then those would be dumped at another place after a few days, he said.
The Forest Department on Saturday launched their drive to clean up the oil by hiring about 100 boats and 200 day-labourers.
Forest officials claimed that the dissolved oxygen (DO) in the water of the Shela River in the Sundarbans came back to a tolerable level on Monday, minimising the risk of wildlife and aquatic plants and animals in the world's largest mangrove forest.
They said the amount of floating oil in the Shela, where an oil tanker carrying huge oil capsized, was decreasing gradually, so there was no abnormal situation in the Sundarbans right now, according to a an Environment Ministry handout.
The officials who were involved in cleaning up oil spill in the river also claimed that the situation in the river would get normal within a week.
According to the Department of Environment (DoE), the dissolved oxygen level in the river water was 6.5 parts per million (ppm) at the Baniashanta point on Sunday while it was 6.5 ppm at Dalia Mariya,
Mirkumari and Karamjal points, 7 ppm at Joymonigol point and 6.3 ppm at Chadpai point.
Fish growth and activity usually require 5-6 ppm of dissolved oxygen.
Dissolved oxygen levels below 3 ppm are stressful to most aquatic organisms. Levels below 2 ppm will not support fish at all.
International wildlife expert Bryan Smith, forest conservator (Wildlife Circle) Dr Tapan Kumar Dey and divisional forest officer (Khulna region) Jahidul Kabir confirmed that there was no possibility for aquatic species to die at the current DO level in water.
The oil tanker carrying about 357,000 (3.57 lakh) litres of furnace oil sank in the river at Mrigmari under East Zone of the Sundarbans after being hit by a cargo 'MT Total' vessel on Tuesday, causing a serious threat to the existence of the mangrove forest and its natural resources due to the oil spill.
Police in a drive on Monday seized the cargo vessel, 'MT Total', along with its four crew members from the Shitalakkhya River in connection with the oil tanker capsize.