The lighter vessel that sank in the river Meghna with 11 lakh litres of fuel oil could not be salvaged on Monday, 40 hours after the incident, raising fears of massive pollution endangering aquatic life as a result of an oil spill.
Oil has spread to at least one kilometre so far, putting the flora and fauna in the river’s water in danger.
The Department of Environment assistant director in Bhola said that fuel oil from the ship continued to spread.
‘We are not sure how much oil has leaked already, but it is spilling into more areas gradually,’ he said.
The vessel ‘Sagar Nandini-2’ carrying fuel from Chattogram port to Padma Oil Company Ltd depot in Chandpur sank around 4:00am on Sunday in the Meghna after it was hit by another vessel on the back at Tulatuli Majher Char.
Ilisha Sadar river police station sub-inspector Md Abdul Karim said that the oil company,
Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority, Bangladesh Navy and Coast Guard, among others, were conducting rescue operations.
‘Agencies are trying to control the oil spill without success,’ he said.
Padma Oil Company Limited deputy general manager Asif Malik said that the vessel was carrying 901,000 litres of diesel and 234,000 litres of octane in separately locked containers.
Coast Guard South Zone media officer KM Shafiul Kinjal said that approximately two lakh tonnes of oil mixed with water could be recovered from the river.
Green activists said that the oil would kill microorganisms in the river destroying river biodiversity and causing environmental damage.
The Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers Association’s chief executive, Syeda Rizwana Hasan, said that many unfit vessels continued to operate as the government agencies concerned were indifferent about fitness, which caused accidents.
Officials said that all 13 crew members of the vessel had been rescued immediately after the incident.
In December 2014, an oil tanker, ‘OT Southern Star 7’ carrying 350,000 litres of furnace oil from the same oil company sank in the Shela river in the Sundarban after it was hit by a cargo vessel.
The oil from the ship spread 50 kilometres down the Shela and Pashur rivers.