QUITO, Dec 23, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – Ecuador activated emergency protocols
Sunday to contain the environmental impact of a fuel spill in the Galapagos
Islands, after a barge carrying 600 gallons of diesel fuel sank, officials
said.
The Galapagos archipelago, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is home to one of
the most fragile ecosystems on the planet.
“A fuel spill was observed, and the barge’s crew jumped into the sea to
safeguard their lives,” announced the Integrated Security Service, or ECU-
911.
The accident occurred in a port on San Cristobal Island, the easternmost
island in the chain, when a crane collapsed while loading a container onto
the barge. The falling container destabilized the ship, causing it to sink.
Military personnel and environmentalists were “putting up containment
barriers and absorbent cloths to reduce the environmental risk of the sinking
of the Orca barge, with 600 gallons of diesel fuel stored on it,” tweeted the
Galapagos National Park (GNP), the official nature reserve authority.
Units from the Ecuadorian navy and national police were coordinating with
the GNP to resolve the emergency and assess environmental damage.
Environment minister Raul Ledesma tweeted that the government had taken
“immediate actions” to reduce the environmental risk.
He also ordered “the necessary contingency measures be taken to overcome
this unfortunate event.”
The Galapagos Islands, located 620 miles (1,000 kilometers) east of
mainland Ecuador, helped English naturalist Charles Darwin develop the theory
of evolution.