Oil spills into river as tanker sinks at Sundarbans
Oil spills into river as tanker sinks at Sundarbans
Oil spreads to 20sq km areas
A huge quantity of oil has spilled from a tanker which sank at a river in the Sundarbans after being hit by a cargo vessel in Mongla upazila of Bagerhat early today.
The spilled oil has already spread to around 20 square kilometre areas including Joymoni, Nandobala, Andharmanik and Mrigomari in the Sundarbans, said Abul Kalam Azad, an assistant forest conservator at the Sundarbans.
The environmentalists warned that the incident will create a massive and prolonged impact on the coastal ecology of the Sundarbans.
A crew also went missing as the oil tanker, Southern Star-7, carrying 3.58 lakh litres of furnace oil, capsized in the Shela river around 5:00am, reports our Bagerhat correspondent.
Mokhlesur Rahman, master of the sunken oil tanker, went missing while the others managed to swim to safety.
The oil tanker, which was taking the oil to Gopalganj from Khulna Padma oil depot, anchored in the river at Joymoni Ghola of the east range of Sundarbans at night, Md Giasuddin, managing director and owner of the oil tanker, told The Daily Star.
A cargo trawler hit the oil tanker from behind when it was starting its voyage around 5:00am.
A team of the coast guards was conducting a searching operation to rescue the missing master, said Mehedi Masud, commander of Mongla coastguards (west zone).