Americas News
Questions Raised After Containership Spills Oil
Authorities say an oil spill off Lucayan Harbour in the Bahamas has been cleaned up, but a salvage company owner is raising questions about how the incident was handled, according to media reports.
The crew of the MSC Eugenia, owned by the Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC), noticed oil seeping from the ship, and damage to the hull, as the ship headed out of the harbour around 4 a.m. Monday, according to the local newspaper the Freeport News.
By the next afternoon, the ship was back in port and authorities told the newspaper they were satisfied that the spill had been cleaned up.
However, Ray Darville, owner of local salvage company Overseas Marine Group Ltd., which hauled the ship back to the port, has questioned the government's handling of the spill, saying that the ship had leaked more than 1,000 gallons of oil.
Darville told the Freeport news that he believes the ship was moved farther into the ocean to keep the spill from the media, despite possible environmental damage.
"We're not talking about a couple gallons of oil, this is peering off as far as you could see," he said.
Darville also told Tradewinds that the government "played down" the spill's severity and that the Eugenia had sustained a 70 foot-long gash after striking the side of a shipping channel while leaving the port, according to Bahamas news site Tribune 242.
The Eugenia, was starting a voyage to Port Everglades loaded with more than 2,000 containers and 3,000 barrels of oil when the spill occurred, according to the Freeport News.
