DHAKA, Dec 22, 2014 (BSS)- A United Nations (UN) team
comprising both foreign and local experts will start work tomorrow
morning in the Sundarbans to clean up the oil spillage and assess the
damages caused by the oil tanker capsized.The 25-member team reached at Mongla in Bagerhat this afternoon that left the capital Dhaka early this morning.
"We will go to the Sundarbans tomorrow morning and the experts will start their work," UNDP Press Officer Kawser Ahmed Shaikh Mohammad, who is now staying on the ship that is anchored on the Pashur River carrying the experts, told BSS this evening.
The UN Sundarbans Oil Spill Response Mission team will support Bangladesh Government in containing the spillage and cleaning up, and assessing the situation and developing an action plan for a phased response and recovery.
The team members include nine from France, USA, Finland, Sweden, Japan and Canada, specialized persons in oils spill intervention, perto-chemical, and various aspects of mangrove forest system including water and aquatic species, flora and wildlife.
About 3.58 lakh litres of furnace oil from a tanker that sank in the Shela River in the Sundarbans on December 9 has hampered the growth of planktons -- marine and freshwater organisms that are the base of food web in an aquatic environment.
The 25-member team of United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) comprising nine foreign officials and experts started their journey for the Sundarbans by road in the morning.
The UN system in Bangladesh has mobilised an international team of experts to support the government's cleanup efforts of the oil spill in the Sundarbans.
The UN team is scheduled to visit the affected areas on a boat from Dangmari to Harbaria point in the Pashur River and up to the Harintana forest station, starting from the confluence of the Shela and the Pashur.
