Published 12:25 IST, November 4th 2019
Brazil President Jair Bolsonaro on oil spill: 'Worst is yet to come'
President of Brazil, Bolsonaro said on November 3 that the oil spill has affected over 200 beaches on the country's coast and poses a threat to Brazil.
President of Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro said on November 3 that the oil spill has affected over 200 beaches on the country's coast and Brazil is facing major challenges from it. He said the worst time is yet to come. Bolsonaro added that the trash collected from what was spilled is a very small amount. The President added that he was not aware of additional oil would have a diverse impact on his country's coastline but he took note that the currents were flown to the coast of Brazil.
Impossible to measure environmental and economic damage: Authorities
For almost nearly three months, the surface of the ocean appeared to be glossy and shining off the coast of northeast Brazil and the beaches have been polluted along a 2,000-kilometer area of Brazil's most celebrated shoreline. The environment activists and volunteers have cleaned a large portion of oil on the beaches. The authorities said that it is impossible to measure the amount of environmental and economic damage from the oil spills. The government cited the name of a Greek supply tanker as the primary reason behind the oil leakages. The government officials said that the ship, Bouboulina loaded oil from Venezuela and was heading towards Singapore. According to a space agency, the presence of oil at sea is being pushed by currents which result in carrying the oil to the coasts of Espiritu Santo and Rio de Janeiro in southeast Brazil.
Environmental activists hold government is responsible
Recently, a boy, Everton Miguel dos Anjos, 13, from Brazil along with his four brothers and several cousins had joined several other volunteers the day who were putting efforts to clean the beach and scrub oil off rocks on the shore. Miguel walks ashore in Brazil in dirty waist-high water with an intensely irritating look and his body stained in oil. A photographer captured an image of him and it went viral. Just after four days, the photo was captured, the army took a decision to start an operation to clean up the beach and no children will be further allowed to help. The oil spills were first spotted on August 30 off the coast of northeast Paraiba state. It has currently spread along 2,250 kilometers (1,400 miles) of the coast, destroying beautiful beaches in a region that is majorly dependent on tourism. Around 200 towns have been hurt due to the oil spills. A group of environmental activists has claimed that the government did not react to the situation and negligent to provide proper resources to deal with the worst environmental disaster ever to hit northeast Brazil.
Updated 14:50 IST, November 4th 2019