Mauritius: Mauritius declared a “state of environmental emergency” late Friday after it began to leak several tons of fuel from a ship owned by Japan stranded offshore. This was announced by Prime Minister Pravind Jagannath after images taken from the satellite showed dark oily matter spreading in blue waters near environmental areas that the government described as “extremely sensitive”.
Mauritius said the vessel was carrying about 4,000 tonnes of fuel and cracks have formed at its bottom. Jagannath had earlier in the afternoon said that his government was appealing to France for help. He also said that the leak was “a threat” to his country with a population of 1.3 million, largely dependent on tourism and that the corona virus was severely affected by the effects of the global pandemic. “Our country does not have the skills and expertise to re-strand stranded ships, so I have appealed to France and President Emanuel Macron for help,” he said. He said that bad weather has made it impossible to take action and “I worry about what will happen on Sunday when the weather gets worse.”
France’s Reunion Island is a close neighbor of Mauritius and the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs has stated that France is Mauritius’ “major foreign investor” and one of its large trade partners. Jagannath posted a picture of the vessel ‘MV Vakashio’ which is dangerously inclined. The Mauritius Meteorological Service said “there is a great danger in the sea. It is advisable not to go to sea. “
