Volunteers donate hair, help build floating booms...
The island of Mauritius in the Indian Ocean is attracting tourists thanks to its pristine beaches, spectacular lagoons and coral reefs, and unique marine life . These days, Mauritius is attracting a different kind of attention after a ship carrying fuel oil and diesel ran aground off the coast in late July, spilling part of the oil into the ocean.
A major oil spill near the island of Mauritius has prompted a massive response from the island's resident with people coming forward to donate hair and help build booms with used plastic bottles to prevent its spread. Thousand of students, Environmental activists and residents of Mauritius are working around the clock trying to reduce damage to coastal areas after a Japanese vessel ran a ground on a coral reef.
An estimated 2500 tons of oils from the Japanese Ship cargo of 4 tons has already escaped into the sea.
The government of Mauritius - a country with a population of 1.3 million people has declared a state of environmental emergency. Resident are angry with the inadequate government response and are volunteering to help soak up to the oil spill despite government warning to steer clear of the spill and not risk their health.
The latest oil spill are also served as a renewed call from environmental organisation that the world should accelerate the move away from the oil.
As the country declared National Emergency people from all the quater of life have jumped into the action, amid strong criticism against the government for acting late. Volunteers were seen scooping oil from the shores using buckets and extracting sludges with shovels, filling big oil barrels to take away the heavy fuel.
People also started donating their hair to use in soaking up the oil. Many studies have showed that fur and the hair product, collected from dog groomers and hairdressers, are just as a good as synthetic alternatives when it comes to cleaning up crude oil spills on land.
In 2015 researchers from the department of Geography, Environment and Disaster Management at the Conventry University in the UK found that the human hair absorbed 3-9 times its weight in various Oil types.
