A Chevron natural gas rig still blazes off the coast of Nigeria after two weeks, with no end in sight.
The aquatic inferno is cooking up an environmental disaster for the region, reported the Associated Press.
As schools of dead fish wash up on shore, the local 12-bed clinic is overwhelmed by patients.
As the rig burns it heats the water and incubates a surge in bacteria populations, believes a local doctor interviewed by the AP. Those bacteria then make their way into the Ikebiri Creek, the only fresh water source for locals.
“The community here has no other source of water apart from the river water, which on its own isn’t even safe enough to drink, but the pollution has made the water even worse,” said Dr. Oladipo Folorunso, the only doctor in the town of Ikebiri, in an AP story published in the Washington Post.
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Local leaders call for greater assistance from Chevron to clean up the disaster and human crisis they caused.
“We need the federal government to come in,” Jeremiah T. C. Leghemo, leader of a nearby town, told the AP. “These relief materials are provided by Chevron because the state government prevailed on Chevron to provide them, but the people are suffering.”
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But Chevron has no word on how long it will take to stop the fire, much less clean up the contamination.
“We cannot predict how long the process will take, but what we can tell you is we will do so as quickly as possible while continuing to maintain safe operations,” the company said in a statement.
The rig burst into flames January 16 in shallow water off the coast of Nigeria's Bayelsa state.
Two contractors are still missing after the disaster, reported the Wall Street Journal. Two more workers remain in the hospital.
Chevron was already under scrutiny after losing control of a deepwater rig off the coast of Brazil resulted in an oil spill, reported Reuters.
IMAGE:
NASA MODIS satellite image of the Niger Delta coastline on Jan. 17. via skytruth.org)
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