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France sends experts to help Mauritian government with wreck

France sends experts to help Mauritian government with wreck

Mauritius oil spill

France has decided to send more experts to Mauritius to examine and decide the fate of the Japanese ship that leaked oil into waters off the coast of the Indian Ocean island.

France has already extended its help by sending its military planes, ships and equipment to help and contain oil spills from reaching the French island of La Reunion southwest of Mauritius.

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According to Minister for France's overseas territories Sebastien Lecornu's interview to Franceinfo, the European country is sending three additional experts that will be tasked to help the Mauritian government on what to do with the wreck that split in two.

France was in favour of an "environmental approach and protection of biodiversity, and particularly the coast of La Reunion," he said.

Possibilities include sinking part of the ship in the open sea, which "is clearly not our preferred solution", or to tow the wreck elsewhere and destroy it, which would require "more time", the minister said.

The Japanese vessel struck a coral reef on July 25, spilling about 1,000 tonnes of fuel oil and endangering corals, fish and other marine life in what some scientists have called the country`s worst ecological disaster.