On October 10, a stray ship reportedly collided into another vessel in the harbour resulting in the causing severe damages to the vessel and the water surrounding the harbour.
What happened?
Various reports indicate that the origin of the spill of millions of nurdles, said to be as detrimental as an oil spill, occurred when a container fell from a ship in Durban harbour during the extreme weather with no one claiming responsibility for the incident.
Vessel breaks away:
The vessel was approached by the rescue tugs when it broke away from its mooring due to strong winds and collided into another vessel causing serious damages to the other ship which was unfortunately crushed between the heavy container ship and the quayside.
Vessel sustains damages:
The victim vessel that was severely ruptured was flung overboard and into the harbour waters. Subsequently, the damaged container was noticed and retrieved from the waters with the help of a crane.
Nurdles float on water:
Though the incident occurred two weeks ago, plastic nurdles have been noticed floating on the water and the entire coastline is littered with the debris causing severe damage.
Di Jones of the Dolphin Coast Conservancy said, “This type of plastic pollution is comparable to an oil spill and it is a disaster in the making. The nurdles, which are used in the manufacture of plastic products, have littered beaches from Richards Bay to the Eastern Cape and there’s a fear they could end up in the iSimangaliso Wetland Park”.
Blame game starts:
Chris Wright, Chairman of Coastwatch KZN, said that Transnet is responsible for the incident since the container washed overboard in the Durban harbour.
The organisation has also raised questions on why environmental activists and authorities remain mum about the incident and why an alert was not raised immediately after the incident occurred. The port authorities have been blamed for negligence since they should have been more vigilant on the sources of pollution by employing booms to contain the pollution.
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Source: South Coast Sun
