The current capsizing and sinking of the container ship MSC ELSA 3 off the coast of Kochi — just some days after the X-Press Pearl Catastrophe’s 4th anniversary — has triggered a grave environmental and humanitarian disaster. The vessel, which departed from Vizhinjam Port en path to Kochi, was carrying 640 containers, together with hazardous cargo and doubtlessly explosive calcium carbide. This accident has unleashed varied environmental dangers, together with poisonous oil spills and chemical leaks threatening marine life and coastal ecosystems. Within the days following the wreck, plastic pellets have been found washing ashore alongside the Thumba coast in Thiruvananthapuram, and even as much as Tamil Nadu’s Kanniyakumari district, warning of one other widespread and long-lasting contamination that would additionally attain the Gulf of Mannar’s fragile ecosystems.
But, as is just too typically the case, it’s the coastal communities who’re left to bear the burden. Whereas personal firms revenue, it’s the individuals who pay with their well being, their livelihoods, and their future. Native authorities at the moment are pressured to divert taxpayer cash and assets to handle a catastrophe they didn’t trigger. This injustice can not proceed. Greenpeace India requires full transparency from authorities companies and the MSC firm to reveal the entire checklist of misplaced cargo. They need to additionally think about speedy help measures for affected communities going through the present fishing ban, and above all, adjust to strict accountability for the polluters with reference to lengthy lasting impacts for marine life and the native economic system. Environmental destruction should not be handled as the price of doing enterprise.
