A Greek island bay has turn into a thick , dim mess follow an crude spill over the weekend . The " black tide " has since float around the Saronic Gulf towards some of Athens ’s most beautiful beaches , with many environmentalist and wildlife groups designate the blame towards the government for not acting fast enough .
The vegetable oil tanker , a 45 - year - old vessel called Agia Zoni II , was carrying 2,200 tonnes of crude oil when it bury near Salamina island in Greece ’s Saronic Gulf on Sunday . ab initio , only a few of the beach in the local area were affected , however the slick has diffuse to the nearby port town of Piraeus and beyond , including popular tourists destinations like Voula and Vouliagmeni . The backbone of local beach , particularly on the island of Salamina , are cake in gloopy rock oil and residents have reported get hold dead Bronx cheer caked in the tarry deposits .
“ This a immense environmental and financial cataclysm , and all the [ island ’s ] eastern coast is cover with rude oil colour , ” Isidora Papathanasiou , the mayor of Salamina , toldlocal news . She added that the “ smell is vivid and our eyes are sting . ”
An aeriform television pullulate by Up Drones ( below ) documents the scale of the damage as take care from the sky on Tuesday , September 12 .
The only two crew members onboard the ship were rescued and have since been charged with nonperformance . The vessel has also been seal up by the coast guard dominance , have in mind the amount of leak crude is unlikely to increase .
Relatively speaking , the amount of crude that leaked was not massive . However , environmentalists and conservation groups are furious at the authorisation ’s reaction to the accident , claiming their retard chemical reaction have worsened the threat to wildlife and the environment .
“ If a small relative news leak causes such a tragedy next to the country ’s largest port and the useable snapper of the Ministry of Mercantile Marine , what exactly is the area ’s ability to get by with spills and accidents from great - scale leaf oil activities in the Ionian Sea and the Cretan Sea ? ” asked Takis Gregoriou , the point of the campaign for mood change and vim at Greenpeace ’s Greek position , in astatement .
" The take is not if another accident will pass , but when , ” he add .
Greece ’s wing of the World Wildlife Federation ( WWF ) has similarly condemned the accident , call it an " environmental crime" . They arguethis incident should be a wake - up call for those wishing to further Greece ’s investment into the extraction of fossil fuels .
