Maritime pollution by hydrocarbons from the ship Tresta Star stranded in the Tremblet sector in the south of Reunion since the evening of February 3, “has been reported since Friday morning on the coast of the commune of Saint-Philippe”, and “at noon, two slicks had formed, the largest of which stretches over 1.5 kilometers in length,” the prefecture said in a statement.

“This spill corresponds in all likelihood to a volume of fuel oil which remained in the bottom of the hold (known as “unpumpable”) and which spilled through breaches in the hull.

It is considered that a cubic meter of fuel mixed with seawater is spread over an area corresponding to a football stadium, ”adds the text.

The Prefect of Reunion contacted the shipowner "so that he takes the urgent measures required by the situation".

“As a result, the tug Vasileios, equipped with pollution control resources, will be back in the area in the next few hours.

The Polygreen ship’s security and depollution teams will be on site and will be able to intervene as soon as the weather conditions allow work on board, ”assures the prefecture.

Indeed, the state of the current swell and its expected deterioration in the coming hours do not allow the deployment of effective response strategies at sea, underlines the prefecture, while a new cyclone called Emnati is approaching the island.

Tresta Star failed partly because of Batsirai

The Mauritian oil tanker Tresta Star had run aground on the south coast of Reunion Island due to very bad sea conditions caused by cyclone Batsirai which skirted the coasts of the Indian Ocean island on 3 and February 4.

Pumping operations took place last week on board the Mauritian oil tanker Tresta Star and the Overseas Minister Sébastien Lecornu had indicated that "the first expert missions" carried out show "traces of hydrocarbons which are linked to previous heavy fuel oil transports”.

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