The ship, which was found empty, spilled oil into the sea, which has now washed up on the shores and caused an environmental disaster.
Near A ship that ran aground on a Caribbean island has spilled a huge amount of oil into the sea and caused an environmental disaster, reports news agency AFP.
The ship capsized on Wednesday at sea near the island of Tobago, the second main island of the Caribbean island nation of Trinidad and Tobago.
The overturned ship drifted with the currents towards the shore of the island on Wednesday and was spotted at sea later that day. The ship, which sailed under an unknown flag, was believed to be carrying sand and wood.
According to the authorities, no signs of people were found on the ship at the time of discovery. There was also no emergency notification from the ship.
From the ship a lot of oil spilled into the sea, and the oil was washed onto the beach in an area about 15 kilometers long. On Saturday, the rescue workers rushed to clean up the oil, which according to the authorities had time to damage the reefs and beaches.
There have been at least a thousand volunteers cleaning up the oil. Divers have also been on standby to plug the ship's leak point.
The situation has caused a lot of trouble, especially for local tourism, as resorts and hotels that are popular with tourists have suffered from the situation. At the moment, the island is celebrating the carnival season.
Tobago head of administration Farley Augustine has said that the island is ready to declare a national state of emergency because of the situation. According to him, they might raise the classification of the disaster higher.
According to AFP's anonymous source, investigators are investigating the ship's origin, owner and destination, but that the investigation will take “some time”. The island has asked for and received help from other countries.
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