UN experts in Bagerhat to assess oil-spill impacts on Sundarbans

An international team of experts reached Bagerhat's Mongla Port on Monday afternoon to assess the extent of adverse impacts caused to the Sundarbans by the oil spill following sinking of an oil tanker in Shela River on Dec 9. In response to a government request, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has mobilised the international team of experts to support Bangladesh government’s efforts to clean up the oil spill in the world’s largest mangrove forest. The team, called United Nations Disaster Assessment and Coordination (UNDAC) team, arrived in Dhaka on last Thursday to support the ground work in coordination with the government. ‘The UN team reached Mongla Port around 4:00pm, and we along with the team will set out a journey by boats within an hour towards the oil-spill affected area,’ Divisional Forest Officer Amir Hossain Chowdhury of the Sundarbans East Zone (Bagerhat) said over phone on Monday evening. The team left Dhaka around 7:00am with 20 experts and five other officials, according to a UNDP official accompanying the team, according to private TV channels.