More Than 20 Dead Dolphins Found on Mauritius Beach Near Oil Spill

Giulia Paravicini August 27, 2020

For Illustration Only - Image by Bernard Beaussier/AdobeStock

Seven more dead dolphins were found on a Mauritius beach on Thursday, a government official said, a day after 17 carcasses were washed up near an oil spill caused by a Japanese ship that struck a coral reef.

"We found seven more dolphins this morning in a state of decomposition," Jasvin Sok Appadu from the fisheries ministry told Reuters.

Results from an autopsy conducted on the 17 dolphins found on Wednesday are expected on Thursday.

The spill came from the Japanese-owned MV Wakashio, which ran aground on July 25 and began to spill oil about a week later. The ship was scuttled Monday.

Greenpeace called on the government of Mauritius to launch an "urgent investigation to determine the cause of the deaths and any ties to the Wakashio oil spill".

The full impact of the spill is still unfolding, but scientists have warned of a major ecological disaster, which could impact Mauritius and its tourism-dependent economy for decades.

(Reporting by Giulia Paravicini; Editing by Giles Elgood)