mauritius tagged posts

Mauritius deployed its coastguard and armed forces on Monday after a Chinese-flagged trawler containing 130 tonnes of oil ran aground off the Indian Ocean archipelago nation. It is the second shipwreck in less than a year off Mauritius, after a tanker struck a reef in July and leaked 1,000 tonnes of fuel in the country’s worst environmental disaster in history.

Fisheries Minister Sudheer Maudhoo said the captain of the Lurong Yuan Yu, a trawler flying the Chinese flag, issued distress calls late Sunday afternoon.

Residents said flares were sent up by the fishing vessel, which was stranded off Pointe-aux-Sables in the northwest of the main island not far from the capital Port Louis.

“The first measure is to pump all the oil on board,” Minister Maudhoo told reporters late Sunday, a...

The island nation of Mauritius has declared a “state of environmental emergency” after a vessel offshore began leaking oil into the ocean. MV Wakashio ran aground on a coral reef off the Indian Ocean island on 25 July and its crew was evacuated. But the large bulk carrier has since begun leaking tons of fuel into the surrounding waters.

France has pledged support and the ship’s owner said it was working to combat the spill.

Mauritius Prime Minister Pravind Jugnauth declared the state of emergency late on Friday.

He said the nation did not have “the skills and expertise to refloat stranded ships” as he appealed to France for help.

The French island of Reunion lies near Mauritius in the Indian Ocean...