Oil Spill in the Sundarbans, Bangladesh

ITOPF will be deploying technical staff in the New Year at the request of the UK Foreign & Commonwealth Office (FCO) to join the UN team in Bangladesh responding to the oil spill in the Sundarbans region. The Sundarbans mangroves are a World Heritage Site and contain several wildlife sanctuaries and reserves for a wide range of threatened and endangered animals.

On 9th December 2014, the coastal tanker SOUTHERN STAR 7 was involved in a collision on the Shela River near the port of Mongla. The incident resulted in the release of an estimated 300MT of HFO which subsequently spread within the world's largest area of mangrove. The scale and extent of the impacts of the oil spill on the mangroves are yet to be determined but the international importance of the area has stimulated a response from experts around the world.

Category: Spill Response