An oil carrier vessel ran aground on a coral reef in the Indian Ocean on 25 July and began leaking oil into waters off the island of Mauritius.

The MV Wakashio was stranded close to Pointe d'Esny, an area of wetland recognised by UNESCO as a protected site. The vessel was trapped on the coral reef and the side of the vessel was breached.

Helicopters have removed the ships crew and began removing some of the 4000 tonnes of fuel and oil from the ship, though it is thought that 1000 tonnes of oil has already leaked into the sea.

Local authorities and hundreds of volunteers have scrambled to help with the clean-up and protect the local beaches and coral reefs.

The Mauritian Prime Minister declared a state of emergency and appealed for help. France and Japan have deployed teams with pollution control equipment. Bad weather is forecast in the coming days which is predicted to make the clean-up efforts more difficult.

Related News and Resources

• Mauritius oil spill as seen by Sentinel-2

Oil spill in Mauritius - Delineation map Monitoring 03

Source: Pleiades

Acquired: Pleiades: 08/09/2020

Copyright: Includes Pleiades material © CNES (2020), Distribution Airbus DS.
Map produced by SERTIT

Product: link

Oil spill extent Delineation Map, Mauritius

Source: Pleiades

Acquired: 27/08/2020

Copyright: Includes Pleiades material © CNES (2020), Distribution Airbus DS.
Map produced by SERTIT

Product: link

Oil spill in Mauritius - Delineation Map Monitoring 01

Source: Pleiades

Acquired: Pleiades: 16/08/2020

Copyright: Includes Pleiades material © CNES (2020), Distribution Airbus DS.
Map produced by SERTIT

Product: link

Oil spill in Mauritius - Delineation Map

Source: Pleiades

Acquired: 14/08/2020

Copyright: Includes Pleiades material © CNES (2020), Distribution Airbus DS.
Map produced by SERTIT

Product: link

Analysis of the oil spill in Mauritius

Download the full report

Source: WorldView-3 / WorldView-2 / Sentinel-2 / ALOS-2 / GeoEye-1

Acquired: WorldView-3: 13/08/2020 and 07/08/2020
WorldView-2: 09/08/2020
Sentinel-2: 11/08/2020
ALOS-2: 13/08/2020
GeoEye-1: 12/08/2020 and 15/08/2020

Copyright: WorldView © (2020) DigitalGlobe, Inc., Longmont CO USA 80503. DigitalGlobe and the DigitalGlobe logos are trademarks of DigitalGlobe, Inc. The use and/or dissemination of this data and/or of any product in any way derived there from are restricted. Unauthorized use and/or dissemination is prohibited
Contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data (2020)
ALOS-2 © JAXA
GeoEye-1 © 2004 GeoEye NextView License
Report produced by NOAA

Product: link

Satellite detected potential oil extent, Grand Port Bay, Mauritius

Source: TerraSAR-X

Acquired: 15/08/2020

Copyright: © DLR e.V. (2020), Distribution Airbus DS Geo GmbH
Map produced by UNITAR/UNOSAT

Product: link

Satellite detected potential floating oil extent as of 13 August 2020 in Grand Port Bay, Republic of Mauritius

Source: ALOS-2

Acquired: 13/08/2020

Copyright: © JAXA 2020
Map produced by UNOSAT

Product: link

Preliminary satellite based oil spill assessment, Grand Port Bay, Republic of Mauritius
Download the full report

Source: Pleiades
Geo-Eye

Acquired: Pleiades:11/08/2020
12/08/2020
Geo-Eye 01/08/2020

Copyright: Includes Pleiades material © CNES (2020), Distribution Airbus DS.
© 2004 GeoEye NextView License
Map prepared by UNOSAT

Product: link

Analysis of oil spill in Mauritius

Source: Sentinel-2

Acquired: 11/08/2020

Copyright: Contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data (2020)
Map produced by NOAA

Product: link

Satellite detected potential oil extent in Pointe d'Esny Reef, Republic of Mauritius

Source: TerraSAR-X

Acquired: 10/08/2020

Copyright: © DLR e.V. (2020), Distribution Airbus DS Geo GmbH
Map produced by UNITAR/UNOSAT

Product: link

Preliminary satellite based oil spill assessment, Reef of Pointe d'Esny, Republic of Mauritius

Download full report

Source: Sentinel-2

Acquired: 06/08/2020

Copyright: Contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data (2020)
Report produced by UNITAR/UNOSAT

Product: link

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