The Pakistan oil spill might be the worst the country has ever seen.
Update: Pakistan Navy stepped in to clean up the oil spill mess.
An oil spill off Pakistan’s coast specifically from Mubarak Village to Churna Island is causing major problems for the marine life and residents of the area.
The oil spill is being attributed to Byco’s underwater pipeline which might have burst. However, Byco has denied this claim and said all their pipelines are perfectly intact.
According to Dawn.com, there is a smell which is permeating from the site of the disaster and making it hard for those living in the area and nearby to breathe.
The officials from the province’s Environmental Protection Agency visited the area of the spill but could not fully ascertain if the spill had been because of a leak in Byco’s pipeline.
The cause of the spill thus still remains unsolved. The locals in the area are very concerned about the lack of initiative taken to remedy the spill. The local counselor for the area, Sarfaraz Haroon stated that the marine life in the area was now on “borrowed time”.
Since it was only a matter of time before the marine life in the water affected by the oil spill, including turtles, dolphins, whales, and fishes would start to die.
The area seems truly devastated in the videos and pictures which have been posted online.
Balochistan's Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) halts operations of Byco after oil spill ruins Mubarak Village-Churna Island coastal belt. "Turtles, dolphins, whales, and other denizens of the sea are all on borrowed time," says Mubarak village counsellor. pic.twitter.com/9zR9SMXrR3
— Fazil Jamili (@faziljamili) October 25, 2018
News being received (unverified as yet): ‘BYCO company's under water oil pipeline has burst causing a major oil spill extending to the coastline of Sindh & Balochistan. Massive ecological disaster.’ (Photo from Abdur Rehman Goth near Hawkes Bay via @madeehasyed) pic.twitter.com/fclLFrv8aU
— Hasan Zaidi (@hyzaidi) October 25, 2018
The Balochistan Environmental Protection Agency has still ordered Byco to halt its operations until an investigation determines the actual cause of the oil spill.
Protection of the environment has never been a priority in the country but with the new government’s constant focus on planting billions of trees to combat global warming, tides might be turning.
Hopefully the Balochistan and Sindh governments both respectively take quick action to remedy the oil spill so marine life which is vital for the ecology of the ocean is saved from what currently seems like a certain death. While the culprit behind this spill still remains uncertain, whoever is found responsible should be heavily fined and a precedent needs to be set.
The BritP PLC was fined $20.8 Billion for the Deepwater Horizon spill of 2010 which lead to other companies including BP becoming more careful with their operations.
While there have been other oil spills in Pakistan, the one in 2003 on the Karachi coastline specifically comes to mind since I lived near the area effect at the time. No heavy fines were imposed and things went on as usual. The government should make an example out of this disaster since we cannot afford any more of such incidents occurring. Immediate investigation should be carried out and whoever is found responsible needs to be economically charged to make it hard for other corporations to disregard environmental safety standards.
What do you think should be done to curb such disasters? Let us know in the comments.
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Cover Image Source: nature.com/@hyzaidi via Twitter.com