A team of international experts has been deployed by the UN Disaster Assessment and Coordination (UNDAC) unit to the Sundarbans to support Bangladeshi cleanup operations. The team will also assess and advise on recovery and risk reduction measures.
Sent in response to a request from the Bangladeshi government, the UN team is also being supported by the EU, Britain, France and the United States. Bangladesh is being encouraged to ban all movement of commercial vessels in that section of the Sundarbans.
Information provided by BirdLife International included a photograph of an oiled kingfisher in the Mrigamari Canal and expressed concern for the Endangered masked finfoot (Heliopais personatus), a reclusive bird, already threatened by a planned coal-fired powerplant planned for the area. Finfoots feed on crabs and small fish in the creeks of the Sundarbans. Little further information on avian species and numbers impacted is available as of 18 December. As more details on impacts on wildlife become available Oiledwildlife.eu will once again update our readers.
Resources:
UN sends team to help clean up Bangladesh oil spill. Business Daylive. Accessed online 18.12.2014
Disaster in the Sundarbans. Birdlife International. Accessed online18.12.2014