Oil Spillage Disaster in the Sundarbans and Other Questions
Khulna, 11 December 2014 One of the World's natural Heritage Site and Ramsar site is going through a severe disastrous situation after huge oil spillage in river Shela. Sundarbans, the largest single tract mangrove forest of the world is in threat now. A local oil-tanker 'OT Southern Star-7' sank with 367 metric ton furnace oil after a hit by another cargo vessel 'MT Total' in Shela River of the Sundarbans, which is 6 kilometers far from Mongla sea port. It is the second oil spillage in last twenty years. A foreign vessel named MV Pavlina sank near Mongla port with 193 metric ton of heavy oil. The place where it is happened is a wildlife sanctuary for aquatic fauna including rare Irrawaddy and Ganges dolphin, and also Bengal tiger, deer, wild boar etc. The concerned institutions which include Bangladesh Navy, Mongla Port Authority (MPA), Forest Department (FD), Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA) or Bangladesh Shipping Corporation (B