Trinidad and Tobago under 'national emergency' after mysterious oil spill

Trinidad and Tobago has announced a state of "national emergency" after a large oil spill last week. The government has vowed that it will spare no expense to rehabilitate the island's beaches.

A Clean Gulf Associates response vessel isskimming crude oil approximately fourmiles southeast of South Pass Louisiana.

Trinidad and Tobago Oil spill: The impact

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The spill has reportedly coated numerous beaches on Tobago's southwest coast. The government has not yet identified the owner of the vessel.

Prime Minister Keith Rowley said it was not immediately clear how much oil had spilled. It is not clear how much remains on the largely submerged vessel.

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"An unknown vessel has apparently drifted upside down into Tobago. That vessel, we don’t know who it belongs to. We have no idea where it came from and we also don’t know all that it contains," the prime minister said at a press conference as reported by the Trinidad & Tobago Newsday.

"What we do know is that it appears to be broken and is leaking some kind of hydrocarbon that is fouling the water and the coastline," Rowley added. "That vessel could have come to us from any kind of operation, especially if the operation is illicit."

The Guardian quoted the chief secretary of Tobago's House of Assembly Farley Augustine as sayingthat divers had not been able to contain the leak. They were reportedly trying to determine how to remove the remaining oil.

Rowley said that the costs of the cleanup were likely to be high.

"This is a national emergency and therefore it will have to be funded as an extraordinary expense … You have to find the money and prioritise. So this is priority and we have to respond,” he said, adding that “some not-so-insignificant costs are being incurred just to respond to this incident".

But he warned that "cleaning and restoration can only seriously begin after we have brought the situation under control. Right now, the situation is not under control. But it appears to be under sufficient control that we think we can manage."

(With inputs from agencies)