Bangladesh: Oil Spill in Bay Off Sitakunda

Approximately 50 feet film of oil floating and spreading Kadam Rasul from Kumira coast was spotted yesterday.

The origin of the oil spill 10km long is still unknown.

Boatmen, fishermen and people travelling between Sandwip and Chittagong believe that the ship-breaking industry is the one who should be blamed for.

The fact is that there are more than 50 ship-breaking yards next to the coast and over 100 vessels are undergoing dismantling.

Nurul Absar Chowdhury, former chairman of Amanullah Union Parishad in Sandwip and now a Chittagong resident, regularly perceives black oil-like substances floating on that route thus he strongly considers the ship-breaking yards to be the perpetrator.

Hefazatur Rahman, president of Bangladesh Ship Breakers’ Association, denies that scrap ships could have caused oil spill in the sea.

Oil might have leaked from tankers that travel to different parts of the country from the Chittagong port, he said.

However, he added that the last time they brought ships was one and a half months ago and those were scrap vessels, not oil tankers.

He stated that their team was sent to investigate the area but it has not detected anything yet.

Zafar Alam, an Environment department director based in the port city, said that they saw a 100-metre layer of oil floating between Kadam Rasul and Kumira, but the source still remains unknown.

[mappress]
World Maritime News Staff, December 15, 2011