On April 2Oth, the DeepWater Horizon, an offshore oil rig has collapsed off the coast of Lousiana in the Gulf of Mexico. The disaster started off with a loud explosion followed by a major fire. The floating platform sank while three leaks were discovered. The amount of oil released in the wild is unknown but estimated to about 160,000 litres per day. The rig also contained 2.6 million litres of petrol (at an extracting rate of 1,27 million litres per day) and it is very likely all these stocks were also released in the waters of the Gulf. Today, the oil spill who measures nearly 1,000 kilometers in width was approaching the coasts of several states including Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida.
The coastline is very sensitive to pollution as it hosts swamps and fragile environments. Not only rare species of aquatic mammals, amphibians, reptiles and birds will be affected but the whole local economy where people often live off fishing. Populations still bear in mind the consequences of Katrina hurricane and now have to deal with this.
- In terms of wildlife, a group of sperm whales live in the area and although they spend most of their time diving for prey, they come back to the surface to breathe.
- The region is also the only spawning ground for a wide variety of species, many of which are in the middle of the spawning season. These species include the Western Atlantic blue fin tuna, already endangered by Japanese overfishing.
- Alabama, Mississippi and Florida beaches host different species of sea turtles that travel in these waters.
- More species of marine animals and wild birds are in danger such as the brown pelican, reddish egret, mottled duck, royal tern and snowy plover. Read more on the NY Times
Below is a summary video from Fox news as well as some pictures to illustrate the dimension of this disaster.
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| Photo: CNN |
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| Photo: CNN |
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| Photo: AP |
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| Photo: AP |
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| Photo: AP |
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| Photo: AP |
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| Photo: AP |
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| Photo: AP |
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| Photo: AP |
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| Photo: AP |
