PORT OF SPAIN, (Reuters) – A week after an oil spill was first spotted near Tobago’s shore, portions of the stain are moving in opposite directions into the Caribbean Sea, the island’s emergency management agency (TEMA) said yesterday.
First responders and volunteers have been trying to contain the 12-kilometer (7.46 miles) spill, which emerged from a vessel that had capsized, to avoid impacting a nearby cruise ship port, Trinidad and Tobago’s government has said. But the leak has not been plugged.
Satellite images and models suggest that waves might be taking some of the spill into the Caribbean Sea past northern Vene-zuela, increasing the risk that the oil impacts other beaches in Trinidad and Tobago that have coral reefs, TEMA’s director Allan Stewart told Reuters.
“The satellite showed that some of it was moving into the Caribbean Sea, as well as some of the modeling,” Stewart said, adding that an upcoming flight by Trinidad’s Air Guard is expected to confirm the finding.
Trinidad’s Coast Guard found that at least two vessels bound for Guyana – a tugboat and a barge – were involved in an incident that led to the spill, the National Security ministry said in a release yesterday.
“The barge was being towed by a tug, the Solo Creed from Panama,” the ministry said, adding that it remains unknown whether any lives were lost in the incident. Authorities in Panama, Aruba and Guyana have been contacted by Trinidad and regional group Caricom to find more information as part of the investigation.
Photographs posted by TEMA on Tuesday showed progress on cleaning up Tobago’s beaches. Approximately one-third of the 15 kilometers of shoreline on Tobago’s Atlantic Ocean has been cleaned and the spill is increasingly under control, Stewart said.
BP PLC BP.L and Shell PLC SHEL.L are providing technical assistance and equipment, Stewart added.
