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Volunteers Get Dirty Cleaning Up Oil Spill in Mauritius

Mauritius is facing an environmental crisis after a tanker ship that ran aground in late July started to spill oil, with volunteers continuing cleanups on August 12.

Footage streamed by local politician Adrien Charles Duval shows a team of volunteers scooping up sludge on the shoreline.

Mauritian prime minister Pravind Jugnauth said in a press conference on Wednesday that around 3,000 of the 4,000 tons of oil from the bulk carrier stranded on the reefs of Pointe d’Esny had been pumped out of the vessel’s fuel reservoirs, local media reported.

It’s estimated that the Japanese-owned tanker ship Wakashio, which ran aground off the coast in late July, leaked 1,300 tons of crude oil into the ocean.

The reason the ship ran aground is unclear. But Nagashiki Shipping Co, who owns the vessel, has told local media that “the cause of the incident will be fully investigated.” Credit: Adrien Charles Duval via Storyful