It seems the oil spill following a collision between a Manx registered vessel and another ship off Chennai India is much worse than earlier thought,
The spill which we reported on earlier is now polluting 24km of coastline and the pictures of the shoreline pollution show this is a major incident.
Damage to marine life is likely to be extensive not just from the pollution but from the chemicals used to tackle the thick oil slick which is creeping inexorably along the coast.
The impact of the spill is already being felt with fish markets empty but as this report from Hindustan Times points out the problem will be long lasting and it may take the environment many years to recover (link):
Despite there being a Manx registered vessel involved the Manx authorities have said nothing the adage seeming to be ?out of sight out of mind?.
Celtic League have previously raised concerns and called for action by the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) following spills of this kind around the Celtic countries and we will not shy of urging the IMO to revisit the issue in respect of this incident just because it has occurred far from our countries shores.
BERNARD MOFFATT
pp Celtic League.
25/02/17
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