This Friday evening of 18th March was commemorative of the end of the towing operations of the Taiwanese trawler, FV Maan Yu Feng Nº 168. The fishing vessel was sent to the dry docks where it will be handed over to the Mauritius Ports Authority for further investigations on the causes of the sinking, the condition of the vessels as well as the unaccounted cargo of 23 tons of fuel oil on the Maan Yu Feng 01.
This operation took 24 days to refloat and tow the Weng Hang Dar 168, Maan Yu Feng 168 and Maan Yu Weng 01. The main causes of this duration were the bad weather, rough seas after the passage of the cyclone Emnati, unstable tide but also precautions to prevent any pollution of water and air and the poor condition of the stranded vessels, especially the Maan Yu Feng 168 stranded on its left side, that is to say on the port side, requiring that the boat be put back on its keel before being towed.
A total of 120 tons of Marine Gas Oil (MGO) was extracted and placed in Intermediate Bulk Containers (IBCs), as well as an additional 23 tons of unclassified MGO, discovered by MPA officers on board the Maan Yu Feng 01, in the hold where fish should have been stored. The Salvage Team included Eco Fuel, Mauritius Ports Authority, National Coast Guard, Police Helicopter Squadron and other police elements and the anti-pollution tug of the Greek company Poly Green Ltd, the Vasileios dispatched from Reunion Island from the site where the Tresta Star was wrecked. A significant amount of 80 tons of decomposing fish had also been removed.
These sites have remained inaccessible to fishermen in the Pointes aux Sables and Bains de Dames areas since 23rd February. They have not been silent and have come forward to denounce oil slicks in the lagoons reaching even Baie du Tombeau and air pollution affecting the locality, namely hydrogen sulfate, the gas produced by the decomposition of fish put in bags and stored in skips on the shore to be transported to the waste plant at Mare Chicose. The MPA also had the quality of the water tested and the tests conducted by the Albion Research Center (AFRC) showed that there was no water pollution.
