India deploys chopper in Mauritius to tackle environmental-threatening oil spill

Indian-made Dhruv Advanced Light Helicopter has been deployed to tackle the Mauritius oil spill to extricate skimmed oil from a merchant vessel to a tug.

The oil spill posed a serious threat to two protected marine ecosystems and the Blue Bay Marine Park reserve in the island nation.

The oil spill started after MV Wakashio, a ship owned by Nagashiki Shipping Company of Japan, rammed into a reef in the marine park off the South-East coast of Mauritius on July 25, and spilling about 1,000 tonnes of fuel oil, while sailing from China to Brazil.

Prime Minister of Mauritius, Pravind Jugnauth had declared a state of environmental emergency in the country in the wake of the oil spill.