Spilled oil spread to canals

A huge quantity of oil from yesterday's spillage caused by a freight derailment in Halishahar area of Chattogram spread to three canals, threatening the local ecosystem.

Yesterday, around 40,000 litres of diesel spilled from three wagons of a tanker train that derailed while entering Chittagong Goods Port Yard (CGPY) in Halishahar after starting from an oil depot in Patenga.

The oil has already spread to three adjoining waterbodies -- CGPY canal, Gupta canal and Mahesh canal in the port city, said Monir Hossain, an inspector of Department of Environment (DoE), who visited the spots today, reports our Chattogram staff correspondent.

These canals are connected with each other and flow into the Karnaphuli river. "We also collected water samples from the river to determine whether the oil also contaminated the river," he said.

The wagons, each carrying 15,000 litres of diesel for Bangladesh Railway, leaked around 40,000 litres of diesel.

During a visit to the area today, this correspondent found that the canal has turned black as the oil spill spread and mixed with the water.

Environmentalists warned that the incident will create a massive and prolonged impact on the ecology of the connected water bodies.

Mohammad Kamal Hossain, former professor of the Institute of Forestry and Environmental Science at Chittagong University, told The Daily Star, "Oil contamination will destroy the food of aquatic animals on the surface of the canal water. Many aquatic life will perish as the oil depletes oxygen in the water."

Two teams of the DoE have visited the area and collected samples for assessment of environmental damage.

"We will take legal action against those involved in the environmental pollution after investigation," said Mia Mahmudul Hoque, deputy director of DoE Chattogram city office.

Meanwhile, locals continued scooping up the spilled oil using their household utensils and selling them.

"I have collected 80 litres of diesel since last night and sold it at Tk 50 per litre," said Ramjan Ali Bappi, a local.

Mohammed Yeasin, officer-in-charge of Railway Nirapatta Bahini (RNB) CGPY outpost, told The Daily Star after 20 hours of incident, the derailed wagons were recovered by the railway rescue team.

"It will take some days to assess the extent of damage caused by the derailment," said Abdul Malek, master of the CGPY.

The train carrying diesel was running with outdated engines, he added.

Meanwhile, BR formed a three members committee headed by Tarek Bin Imran, divisional traffic officer of the Bangladesh Railway (Chattogram Division) to investigate the incident.

Tarek Bin Imran told The Daily Star, "We already started our work and visited the scene. We will promptly investigate the cause behind the accident and submit a report to the higher authorities of the railways," he added.