When an oil tanker runs aground in a contested war zone, does it make a sound?
Evidently not — at least not the kind of sound anyone could hear for over six weeks, the amount of time the Caroline Bezengi oil tanker has reportedly been spewing oil into waters off the southeastern coast of Oman.
According to Reuters, the vessel first ran into trouble on June 8, after an unspecified “blast” literally rocked the boat. It then ran aground near the Al Hallaniyat Islands on June 30, an Omani marine nature reserve and proposed United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) natural heritage site.
The Bezengi was reportedly on its way to India with some 800,000 barrels of Russian oil, though the vessel is currently flagged to Cameroon, per VesselFinder.com.
Speaking to Reuters, John Amos, an oil spills specialist and CEO of the environmental nonprofit SkyTruth, says the oil spill now spans over 2,000 square kilometers. The resulting mess has been exacerbated by a lack of clear oversight and emergency response, as it’s unclear who should ultimately bear responsibility.
“A nightmare scenario is there’s no adequate response to keep the worst from happening,” Amos explained. If no country is willing to take action, he says the vessel would “continue to break up under the steady onslaught of wind and waves and… lose the entire cargo,” resulting in “a spill upwards of 40 to 50 million gallons.”
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