Tragedy in the Galapagos! 600 gallons of oil have entered the water! - video

A real tragedy occurred last Sunday, 22 December, in the Galapagos, where a barge carrying a large cargo of diesel fuel overturned during loading in one of the ports. A crane carrying out the loading of a container fell onto the vessel. As a result, 600 gallons of oil entered the water, contaminating the fragile and unique ecosystem of the Ecuadorian islands.

The whole incident took place on the island of San Cristobal. In the harbour, at La Predial pier, a container was being loaded onto the flat-bottomed barge ‘Orca’ when the crane carrying out the operation overturned and fell directly onto the vessel.

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The barge momentarily heeled over and toppled onto its side, as can be seen in the accompanying video. The crew jumped overboard to save their lives. All services were immediately put on alert and immediately began to minimise the damage that the oil spill could have caused.

San Cristobal is one of a dozen or so islands that make up the Galapagos archipelago. Representatives of extremely rare wildlife live here, and the place itself is one of the most protected natural parks in the world. The Galapagos Islands are about 600 miles off the coast of Ecuador.

Source: bbc.com
Photo: Ministerio del Ambiente de Ecuador/Twitter