Oil-spill impacts not as adverse as feared, claims minister

BAGERHAT, Dec 19: Environment and Forests Minister Anwar Hossain Manju Friday said the oil-spill impacts on the Sundarbans’ biodiversity are not as adverse as it was feared.
 “The biodiversity and the aquatic animals have surely been affected by the oil slick caused following the oil spillage from the tanker when it crashed in the Shela River of the Sundarbans. Now it appears that the extent of losses due to the oil spill is not as large as it was assumed in the beginning,” he said.
The minister was talking to reporters while inspecting the oil-slick affected areas Friday, 10 days after the oil tanker ‘Southern Star-7’ crashed in the river after having hit by a cargo vessel.
Claiming that no wild animal or aquatic life has died so far, Manju said the work on assessing the losses is on and the situation is getting back to normalcy to a great extent.
He, however, noted that as the oil-slick has already been lapped over the pencil roots of the mangrove plants, it can cause death to those plants by blocking the respiratory system, according to a news agency.