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Fuel oil spill at Boca Chica
The beaches of Boca Chica, between Caucedo and Andres have been affected by a small oil spill from a ship belonging to Seaboard Caribbean. According to the Diario Libre, 800 gallons of bunker C oil was spilled, allegedly from a hole in the ship's hull. The ship itself has been seized by Navy and Ministry of the Environment personnel. Minister Omar Ramirez met with the ship's captain, whose name was not revealed for "diplomatic reasons", and he reported that the captain had signed two statements of complaint, one to the ministry and the other to the Environmental Prosecutor's office. According to the statements, the accident that caused the spill occurred at around 9am yesterday when the ship was docking at Caucedo to drop off a few containers. As a result all beaches in the area have been closed. According to the paper, the ship is being held until the damage assessment and payment are determined by the courts.
The fuel oil spill all went to the beach area and rocky coast between Mega Port Caucedo and the town of Andres de Boca Chica .That beach is closed. The Boca Chica beach from public beach area and the beach in front of the resorts Don Juan , Dominican Bay and Oasis Hamaca have not been affected and is open.
Thanks Laura, and for clarifying that detail, Steve.
I don't know about capacity for cleaning it up, jruane. The reports suggest it is not a massive problem, so unless they are playing it down for PR reasons, hopefully it will be resolved before too long.
If anyone here has more information, please chime in.
This story is odd. Bunker fuel is the fuel the ship itself would use. What sort of "accident" (as the captain claims it to be) would dump your fuel supply?
I'm glad to hear that it was contained. That's good news.
As I understand, the Navy does have some clean-up capacity, but it is rather limited. The DR traditionally has not considered the risk of a spill off their shores as very high.
However, should they have needed any help, they could have asked for it from other Caribbean states as part of their status as a Contracting Party to the Oil Spill Protocol of the Cartagena Convention.
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Oil Spill
) the cleanup won't take too long!
