By Duncan Miriri
NAIROBI (Reuters) – Two members of a tugboat team involved in clearing an oil spill off Mauritius died Monday night when their shipment collided with a barge in bad weather, a lawmaker said.
Four members of the team were rescued by helicopter and two are still missing, he told Reuters on Tuesday mahend Gungerpersad, a member of parliament of the opposition Labour Party.
“This incident will add to the prevailing anger,” he said, referring to the weekend’s protests opposed to operative control over the oil spill and the deaths of dozens of dolphins in the area.
“We had the oil spill, then we had the dolphins dead and now two other people who were killed.”
THE MV Wakashio, a Japanese granelero, hit a coral reef off the coast of the Indian Ocean island in July, pouring thousands of crude oil into the sea and stifling marine life in a pristine lagoon.
According to Gungerpersad, the tugboat and barge emitted a misery signal between 7:30 p.m.and 8:00 p.m.Monday.The tugboat scoured after the collision, both ships were moving parts recovered from the oil spill at the port.
The Mauritians were angry about what Gungerpersad called “mismanagement” and “incompetence” of the government in its handling of the crisis.
In addition to the death of dolphins, the spill threatened decades of paints to keep local seabirds and plant species in a nearby reserve.
(Editing via Mike Collett-White)