MV OT Southern Star-7, the oil tanker carrying about 3.58 lakh litres of furnace oil that sank in the Shela river of Sundarbans near Mongla early Tuesday, was not salvaged yet though 30 hours have already gone. The sunken tanker is spilling oil over a vast area of the world`s largest mangrove forest that continued till last night. If the authorities fail to stop the spill it might deal a serious consequence to the biodiversity of the forest, feared experts and officials of the Sundarbans forest department. Mrigamari in Shela river where the oil tanker was sunken is a sanctuary for about six species of extinct dolphins including eraboti dolphin. It is tough to determine still now that what kind of disaster the incident would bring for the vulnerable Sundarbans, they added. Earlier on Tuesday morning, with the huge quantity of oil, the tanker sank in the river of the Sundarbans after being hit by a cargo vessel from behind, pushing the coastal ecosystems in danger. Of the eight crew of MV OT Southern Star-7, master Mokhlesur Rahman remained missing while seven others swam ashore. A team of Coast Guard and forest officials went to the spot to search for the missing man, Mongla Thana police said. –risingbd.com
