Work to remove oil wreck ship

Work has begun to remove the two pieces of a grounded Japanese ship that leaked tons of oil into the protected coast off Mauritius and broke apart.

Tug boats will pull the bow – the smaller part of the shipwreckedmvwakashio–outto sea and allow it to sink, according to environmental experts on the island.

The larger part of the ship will be dragged off the coral reef where it ran aground and towed away, possibly to India for salvage.

“When the ship split in two, there was further leakage of oil, but it appears most of that fuel was on the other side of the coral reef and was in the high seas,” said Sunil Dowarkasing, an environmental consultantandformerparliament member in Mauritius.

“With the sea currents, we don’t know if the new leakage will stay outside the lagoon or not.”

Oil barriers were in place and a skimmer ship to scoop up the fuel was nearby.

The Mauritius government has closed off the coastal area of the eastern part of the island, where thousands of civilian volunteers worked for days to try to minimise damage to the Mahebourg lagoon and protected wetlands.