Oil spill on a Sundarbans river triggers environment concerns

The sinking of an oil-tanker in a river on the Sundarbans has made the forest officials and environment experts deeply worried.

They say 350,000 litres of furnace oil spilled in the river will cause serious ecological disaster in the biggest mangrove forest in the world.

Forest officials say oil from the tanker which sank early on Tuesday after being hit by another vessel spread around 20 kilometres of Shela River until the afternoon.

The situation was getting worse as the local government offices including the forest department and Mongla Port Authority had no tools to control or clean up the oil spill.

Sundarbans east region Divisional Forest Department official Amir Hussain Chowdhury told bdnews24.com: "The Mrigmari-Nandabala-Andharmanik dolphin sanctuary is facing serious threat due to the oil spill. The sanctuary may have to be moved."

The Sundarbans is the biggest roaming ground for this kind of dolphins, known as Irabati Dolphins or locally as Sushuk. The area adjacent to the Shela River has been declared sanctuary for the dolphins by the government.

Biodiversity and ecology researcher Pavel Partha told bdnews24.com: "The oil will reduce the amount of oxygen in the water. This will create a crisis for all the aquatic animals including the dolphins."

He was concerned that the plants and aquatic resources of the mangrove forest would be fatally harmed.

His concerns were also echoed by Khulna University's environmental science department Prof Dilip Kumar Dutta.

"This huge amount of oil on the water would heavily affect the coastal biodiversity for a long time," he said.

He said there was a slim chance that high and low tide would clean up the oil from that part of the river fast because water flow in the downstream was not strong.

Sundarbans' Chandpai range Assistant Forest Conservator Abul Kalam Azad from the scene on Tuesday afternoon told bdnews24.com that the head of the tanker had submerged, but the tail was still up.

'OT Southern Star 7' was on its way to a power plant in Gopalganj from the Khulna Padma Oil Depot carrying 357,664 litres of furnace oil.

After starting the journey on Monday afternoon, the ship anchored on the Shela River at the forest's Chandpai Range for the night.

It was hit from behind by empty cargo ship 'Total' around 5am Tuesday amid dense fog, Mongla Coast Guard's Contingent Commander (West Zone) Captain Mehedi Masud said earlier.

It is not confirmed how much oil has spilled into the river until now.

But after a tour of the 20-kilometre area inside the forest, Assistant Forest Conservator Abul Kalam Azad said he thought all of the 357,664 litres of furnace oil from the tanker had spilled.

He said oil had spread on the other small rivers and canals inside that region.

In the afternoon, layers of oil could been seen on the water in Joymoni, Beltola, Nandabala, Andharmanik and Mrigmari.

Azad said the oil was flowing very close to the dolphin sanctuary and it would pollute the water of the sanctuary before high tide at night.

Mongla Port Authority Chairman Commodore Habibur Rahman Khan suggests Bangladesh Navy's ship BNS Shaheed Ruhul Amin to control the situation.

He said this ship had chemicals that could be used to turn the oil layer into a concentraed, heavy mass. "We can try to reduce the extent of losses by taking this option.”

The Ghashiakhali channel, used as India-Bangladesh water protocol route and maritime communication route for the country's southern region, was closed nearly three years ago after Mongla's Nala River and Rampal's Kumar River filled up.

Since then BIWTA has been using Shela River inside the Sundarbans as an alternate route.

Environmentalists had many times over the years demanded closure of this waterway as it had posed a great risk of an ecological disaster.

On Sept 30, a cargo vessel carrying raw materials for a cement factory capsized at Mongla Port's Pashur Channel.

Only 18 days earlier, another vessel carrying similar materials went down at Harhbarhia in the same channel.

Both ships are yet to be salvaged.

No-one at fault?

As environmentalists question transportation of fuel oil through Sundarbans, forestry officials say their moratorium in a bid to check traffic on river routes inside the mangrove forest has been defied.

The government took steps to preserve the environment and ecology after the UNESCO declared Sundarbans a heritage site in 1997.

The Forestry Division in 2011 ordered the BIWTA to stop using Sundarbans waterways.

However, it is unclear why or how the oil-tanker was using the route despite the embargo.

Forest officer Amir Hussain Chowdhury said, “The BIWTA has kept using the river routes inside the mangrove forest ignoring our orders.”

Speaking to bdnews24.com, Wild Life Trust Bangladesh Chief Executive Prof Anowarul Islam said oil-tankers operating through the Sundarbans was “unacceptable”.

He called for finding an alternative route and asked the government to take a tough stance.

“The forest department has been objecting repeatedly [about using this route].

“It will be impossible to save the Sundarbans if the shipping ministry says the river routes are its jurisdiction and asks the forestry division to look after the forest,” he added.

(Additional reporting by Shameema Binte Rahman)