An army of volunteers is scrambling to contain the disastrous oil spill that has devastated miles of Mauritius’ unspoiled coastline after a Japanese tanker, the MV Wakashio, ran aground off the island nation last week.
Thousands of volunteers, including fishermen, students and diving instructors, have been arriving on the coast near the small town of Mahebourg since Friday to lend a hand in the vast clean-up operation.
"Me and my friends came here today to lend a hand because of the degradation of our environment,” Eldridge Larhubarbe, an environmental management student, told AFP.
“The entire marine ecology has been affected by the heavy oil spilled from the ship. We are very affected by this problem. As young people, it is our main priority to protect our lagoon in Mahebourg."
Volunteers have also been helping to build improvised floating booms, to hold back the oil, filling them with straw, leaves and even human.
Guesthouses have offered free accommodation to volunteers and some hair salons have been offering discounts to those donating hair.
The Wakashio began leaking oil after hitting a coral reef on July 25.
More than 1,000 tonnes of oil have already seeped from the stricken ship, contaminating reefs, mangrove forests and sea life in an unprecedented environmental catastrophe for the country.
Now, salvage crews are in a race against time to stop the 2,500 tonnes of oil still on board the ship from spilling into the sea, with authorities warning cracks in the ship’s hull are worsening and the boar risks breaking apart.
