Tobago oil spill spreads to Grenada waters and could affect Venezuela
"Fuel continues to leak from overturned and abandoned barge as stain spreads into the Caribbean Sea
An oil spill that has stained Tobago’s coastline in the Caribbean is entering Grenada’s waters and could affect neighboring Venezuela, authorities have warned.
Eight days after Trinidad and Tobago’s coastguard first spotted the oil from an overturned and abandoned barge, the vessel continues to leak fuel, and portions of the stain have moved about 144km (89 miles) into the Caribbean Sea at a rate of 14km/h.
“It has now entered Grenada’s territorial waters,” said Tobago’s chief secretary, Farley Augustine, following a fly-over by Trinidad and Tobago’s air guard.
Augustine said the situation was now under control with a 40ft perimeter supported by booms around the wreckage, but said fuel continued to leak from the sunken vessel.
“We are unable to plug the leak and unless we have information on how much fuel is in the barge or what exactly it contains we cannot move forward, except containment and skimming,” he added.
Authorities in Grenada, Panama, Aruba and Guyana have been contacted by Trinidad and the regional group Caricom for information as part of an investigation into the disaster.
A preliminary investigation found that the barge, whose owner and origin have not been confirmed, was being tugged to nearby Guyana.
Officials declared a national emergency on Sunday, and have launched a huge cleanup effort.
Venezuela’s foreign affairs ministry said the country was monitoring the spill and had initiated meetings with Trinidad’s government to coordinate action.
Officials have said it was not clear if anybody was onboard the barge when it overturned and apparently began to sink off Tobago’s coast. They are still searching for the tug boat and its owner.
The spill has angered many residents of the twin-island nation.
Augustine, called on the owner of the barge step forward and pay for the cleanup.
“We have a lot of questions, and now is the best time to have those questions answered,” he told reporters on Wednesday.
“We need to know the quantity and the material you were transporting, so we know what we have been dealing with, what we have been walking in, what we have been swimming in, what we have been trying to clean up from our shores,” Augustine said.
The national security minister, Fitzgerald Hinds, said the investigation was continuing. “We look forward to a swift and successful resolution,” he said."
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