Plastic pellets from sunken ship reach backwaters in Thiruvananthapuram
Thiruvananthapuram
: After flooding the shores of southern beaches all the way up to Kanyakumari, plastic pellets from the sunken Liberian cargo vessel MSC ELSA 3 have now reached the banks of the Karichal backwaters.
Sacks of pellets lay strewn along the backwater's edge, near the stretch where it joins the sea between Adimalathura and Pulluvila beaches, south of Vizhinjam.
This is a sign that pollutants from the ship have begun entering backwaters and other inland water bodies after contaminating the coastline, said marine conservation activists, urging that the pellets and other pollutants from the ship should be removed scientifically.
According to the detailed inventory of the vessel's cargo, which capsized around 14.6 nautical miles off Thottappally, eighteen containers were carrying polymers or plastic pellets. The state govt has declared the shipwreck a state-specific disaster.
High tide appears to have pushed the still-intact sacks into the backwaters, said Rethin Antony, a member of the Karungulam panchayat. "During the monsoon, a lot of waste gets washed into the lake from the sea.
by Taboola
by Taboola
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This time, the sacks of pellets came along with the seawater," he said.
Though the sacks have been lying around for the past couple of days, those involved in the clean-up efforts are yet to remove them from the banks.
Jackson Thumbakaran, a fisherman and marine activist, said the fisherfolk were the ones suffering the most. "The beaches are awash with plastic pellets, and the clean-up is not being carried out sincerely by the workers of the firm assigned to the task.
They are focusing only on the pellets and simply dumping thermocol and packaging materials that washed ashore from the ship," he said.
"The workers are using their footwear to scoop up pellets embedded in the sand, but waves bring in more every day. This is just a temporary, unscientific fix. We collected 60–70 unopened sacks of pellets on Thumba Beach but won't hand them over until the sand is properly cleaned," he added.
Robert Panipilla of Friends of Marine Life said plastic pellets entering inland water bodies was a far more serious issue. "The pollution from the ship has started moving inland and will have a long-term impact on the environment. This proves that the clean-up has been far from comprehensive," he said.
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