By CHESTER ROBARDS

Tribune Senior Reporter

crobards@tribunemedia.net

THE Government has “played down” the severity of an oil spill in Grand Bahama, according to the Maritime watchdog website ”Tradewinds”, which revealed in an article that “thousands of gallons” of heavy fuel oil leaked into the ocean from a damaged cargo ship Monday.

As an Oil Spill Committee comprised of various government agencies ensured local media that Monday’s oil spill was not severe and that no coastal areas would be affected, a salvage contractor who witnessed the spill told Tradewinds Tuesday that the MSC Eugenia sustained a gash 70 feet long by six feet high in its hull when it “struck the side of a narrow shipping channel in a strong current while leaving the Freeport Container Port.”

Tradewinds quoted Ray D’Arville, the salvage contractor from Overseas Marine Group, as saying:
“The vessel was puking bunker fuel offshore. The gash is approximately 70 feet long and six feet high. There is oil as far as the eye can see and its blanketing ships headed inbound.”

However, Minister of Transport and Aviation, Glenys Hanna-Martin, with Oil Spill Committee representatives, told the media that their initial reports were that the oil and the ship were far from shore, and that the oil would not affect the coastline or any other vessels as it is pushed out into the Atlantic by “steering currents”.
Photos sent to The Tribune showed that a thick oil slick seemed to be only yards from Grand Bahama’s coastline.
According to the Tradewinds article, Mr D’Arville revealed that “there is talk” that officials at the Freeport Harbour Company ordered the damaged ship to leave the harbour “to avoid contaminating the hull of a nearby cruiseship.”

The article said that “... the claim could not be immediately confirmed.”

A source in Grand Bahama, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told The Tribune that the information put out by Tradewinds was “nothing compared to what it (the spill) really is.” And, the source revealed that there are “very influential people” directing the information that is being released to the public.

The Tradwinds article said investigations will “likely focus on why the vessel continued out to sea after grazing the side of the channel.”

During an emergency press conference Monday evening, Ms Hanna-Martin revealed that the ship was about 12 miles out in open waters when it began repairs to its hull, likely spewing oil the entire time before stopping to assess the damage. She said she and the committee flew over the ship and noticed an oil slick extending out to sea from the ship.

Ms Hanna-Martin nor the committee has yet been able to tell the media how much oil the ship leaked, how the vessel sustained the damage or how close to shore the ship was when the leak occurred.

She revealed yesterday that a press conference on the matter could be held today.

According to Tradewinds, the Eugenia was expected to return to Grand Bahama yesterday to make repairs.