Trinidad and Tobago’s prime minister says a major oil spill near the twin island nation has caused a “national emergency” and vowed the government will spare no expense to help repair the island’s coast. .
Oil from the spill has covered many beaches on Tobago’s southwest coast, and the government has yet to identify the owner of the vessel that was found capsized off the coast last week.
Prime Minister Keith Rowley said it was not immediately clear how much oil had spilled or how much remained on board the largely submerged ship. It was also unclear what caused the ship to capsize.
“It appears that an unknown ship has drifted upside down in Tobago. We don’t know who it belongs to. We have no idea where it came from, and we have no idea what it contains.” he said at a press conference. Trinidad and Tobago Newsday.
“What we do know is that it appears to be broken and is leaking some kind of hydrocarbons that are contaminating the water and the coastline,” Lowry added. “That ship could have come to us through any kind of operation, especially if that operation was illegal.”
Farley Augustine, chief secretary of the Tobago parliament, said divers were unable to contain the leak and were looking for ways to clean up the remaining oil.
Lowry said the cost of the cleanup is likely to be high. “This is a national emergency, so it has to be funded as an extraordinary expenditure… We have to find the funding and prioritize it. So this is the priority and we have to respond. “There are costs that are not significant just to respond to this incident,” he said.
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But he cautioned that “cleanup and restoration can only begin in earnest once the situation is brought under control.” The situation is currently out of control. But it seems to be well under control and we think we can handle it. ”
