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Karl Schembri and Gilbert Calleja
Malta’s oil pollution response unit is still cleaning up tonnes of oil scattered all over Grand Harbour that were dumped illegally from a sewage outfall last Wednesday.
The oil spill, believed to be made of 12 to 15 tonnes of burnt fuel oil, has hit almost all the harbour area and has also threatened the super yacht of Russian billionaire and owner of Chelsea FC Roman Abramovich, whose 400-foot-ship Pelorus worth Lm45 million was berthed at Malta Shipyards, just a few metres away from one of the hit areas, MaltaToday can reveal.
,Until yesterday, the Oil Pollution Response Module (OPRM) was coordinating efforts to contain the oil spill through special equipment meant to absorb the oil. Just over nine gallons of oil have been recovered so far.
“It has spread from Marsa to a great part of Grand Harbour,” said the head of OPRM Tony Mallia about the spill equivalent to seventy 45-gallon drums and that so far has cost the authorities around Lm4,000 in cleaning operations. “One wine bottle full of oil fills three Olympic-size swimming pools. Just imagine 15 tonnes.”
The culprit is still unidentified but it is suspected that the oil was discharged through a manhole in Marsa or Hamrun. Mallia said this was not the first time that such quantities were dumped illegally in rain culverts or sewage manholes, probably from bowsers. In February last year, OPRM cleaned up 40 tonnes of oil dumped in this manner in one incident.
“Whoever did it has no idea of the extent of the damage he’s inflicting,” Mallia said.
Luckily the powerboats brought over from abroad for the Malta Grand Prix of the Powerboat World Championship were still ashore at the time of the oil spill.
A spokesperson for the Maritime Authority said the VISET area where they were to be berthed was not affected by Thursday evening.
While admitting it was hard to identify the perpetrators, Mallia said he hoped that with the help of the Maritime Authority, the Civil Protection Department, police investigators and the public who reported any information relevant to the case, the people dumping the oil illegally would be caught.
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