Days after no fewer than 17 carcasses of dolphins have washed ashore a beach in Mauritius, officials have found seven more near the area.
When the previous 17 dead dolphins were discovered, the country’s Minister of Blue Economy, Marine Resources, Fisheries and Shipping, Sudheer Maudhoo stated that they might have died from shark bites. This contradicts several environmentalists attributing their death to the oil spill.
“We found seven more dolphins this morning in a state of decomposition,” Jasvin Sok Appadu from the fisheries ministry said.
Results from an autopsy conducted on the 17 dolphins found on Wednesday are expected on Thursday.
The spill came from the Japanese-owned MV Wakashio, which ran aground on July 25 and began to spill oil about a week later. The ship was scuttled Monday.
Greenpeace called on the government of Mauritius to launch an “urgent investigation to determine the cause of the deaths and any ties to the Wakashio oil spill”.
The full impact of the spill is still unfolding, but scientists have warned of a major ecological disaster, which could impact Mauritius and its tourism-dependent economy for decades.
