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Oil spill in Mauritius
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
| Type of Event: | Oil Spill |
| Location of Event: | Mauritius |
| Date of Charter Activation: | 2020-08-08 |
| Time of Charter Activation: | 16:59 |
| Time zone of Charter Activation: | UTC+02:00 |
| Charter Requestor: | UNITAR on behalf of UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), and Centre Opérationnel de Gestion Interministérielle des Crises (COGIC) |
| Activation ID: | 666 |
| Project Management: | UNITAR/UNOSAT |
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Analysis of the oil spill in Mauritius
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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
Information about the Product
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
Source: WorldView-3 / WorldView-2 / Sentinel-2 / ALOS-2 / GeoEye-1
Preliminary satellite based oil spill assessment, Grand Port Bay, Republic of Mauritius
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Copyright: Includes Pleiades material © CNES (2020), Distribution Airbus DS.
© 2004 GeoEye NextView License
Map prepared by UNOSAT
Information about the Product
Acquired: Pleiades:11/08/2020, 12/08/2020
GeoEye-1: 01/08/2020
Source: Pleiades / GeoEye-1
Preliminary satellite based oil spill assessment, Reef of Pointe d'Esny, Republic of Mauritius
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Copyright: Contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data (2020)
Report produced by UNITAR/UNOSAT
Information about the Product
Acquired: 06/08/2020
Source: Sentinel-2
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