Impacts of oil spill on Sundarbans not as bad as perceived earlier: Manju

Bangladesh will act on suggestions from international agencies to reduce long-term effects of a recent oil spill in the Sundarbans, the environment minister has said.

According to Anwar Hossain Manju, the situation is not as bad as it was assumed.

"Of course the Sundarbans’ ecology has been damaged," he, however, said while visiting the mangrove forest on Friday.

An oil tanker, shipping over 350,000 litres of furnace oil, sank in Shela River on Dec 9. Environmentalists fear the slick will seriously damage the forest's ecology.

The local administration started mopping up the oil with local help. So far, 66,300 litres of oil have been collected.

Manju said no animal had been reported dead since the incident and that the situation was easing.

"We are assessing the damages.”

He said new trees would sprout in place of the ones that would die due to the oil spill.

Replying to a question, Manju said he favoured closing down the riverine routes through the Sundarbans, but it would be an inter-ministerial decision.

Asked if the furnace oil would affect the mangrove forest's ecology and marine life, he said nothing could be said without study.

"The government will soon start evaluating the damage with assistance from international organisations.

"We'll take necessary steps if the study shows it [the oil spill] will harm the ecology," he added.

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