Environmental emergency declared in Galapagos Islands

Ecuador has declared an environmental emergency in the Galapagos Islands after a freighter carrying pollutants ran aground last week.

The measure will free up resources to remove the ship and mitigate its impact in the face of “possible environmental damage that could unleash a disaster” said the Directorate of the Galapagos National Park (DPNG).

The vessel, which ran aground off the Baquerizo Moreno port on the island of San Cristobal on Friday, was carrying 19,000 gallons of cargo fuel that has already been removed.

But highly polluting motor oil and cleaning products remain in the ship’s airtight holds, yet to leak out.

At the request of Galapagos authorities, Ecuador’s Environmental Minister Lorena Tapia issued the environmental emergency.

Collected

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/

Posted by admin on May 17 2014. Filed under News Worldwide. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry