Four held over oil spill in Bangladesh mangrove

Workers from the forestry department using water to clean oil-covered vegetation on the banks of the Shela river after an oil-tanker carrying 350,000 litres of furnace oil collided with another vessel in Mongla, yesterday.

DPA/Dhaka

The master and three other crew members of a cargo vessel that collided with the tanker and caused it to sink last Tuesday were detained, police officer Manzur Kader said. Nearly 350,000 litres of furnace oil then leaked in the river system of the Sundarbans forest.

The accident, which occurred in the Shela river, 360km southwest of Dhaka, killed the master of the oil tanker, whose body was found on Sunday in a river by his relatives.

It also spilled oil over 350sq km of the Sundarbans, a Unesco World Heritage Site.

If found guilty, the suspects face a maximum sentence of seven years in prison, the police officer said.

Farid Sheikh, a local resident who ferries passengers in a small boat through the forest, said the spill has silenced the forest and coated birds, trees and shrubs in thick layers of black sludge.

“The Sundarbans is usually buzzing with the chirping of birds and the bustle by its wildlife,” Sheikh, 27, said. “The bustle is gone after the accident.”

A day after the sinking, a rare Irrawaddy dolphin was found dead 25km from the accident site, and residents said they have hardly seen any dolphins in the sanctuary since.

Conservationists said they fear the biodiversity of the Sundarbans will be damaged in the long term, and environmental activists accused the government of being callous in its handling of the disaster.

“We will stage demonstrations in Dhaka to protest the government’s inadequate actions to save the forest,” said Anu Mohammad, head of a pressure group called the National Committee for Protection of Oil, Gas and Ports.

In the meantime, the forest department started spraying chemicals to disperse the oil.

“We have engaged two water pumps to remove the oil from shrubs and trees in the Sundarbans,” forest official Amir Hossain Chowdhury told local media.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina also asked officials to determine an alternative route for commercial vessels in the Sundarbans as environmental groups demanded a halt to shipping there.

The operation of mechanised vessels through Bangladesh’s 6,000sq km part of the forest was banned after the spill.

The Sundarbans stretches for a total of 10,000sq km in both India and Bangladesh. It is home to about 260 species of animals, including the Bengal tiger, estuarine crocodile and Indian python.