(Saint-Denis de la Réunion) The sailors of the Mauritian oil tanker stranded near the coast of Reunion Island, in the Indian Ocean, were brought ashore overnight from Thursday to Friday, announced the Prefecture, at the when the region is swept by the cyclone Batsirai.
Updated yesterday at 11:04 p.m.
“The perilous, very technical and unprecedented operation to rescue the 11 sailors from the ship TRESTA STAR took place successfully between 2 a.m. and 4 a.m.,” greeted the prefect.
PHOTO FROM MARINETRAFFIC.COM
The Mauritian ship TrestaStar photographed at anchor in front of Port-Louis, Mauritius, June 2, 2019.
This operation was carried out “in very unfavorable weather conditions (swell, winds and extreme rain) and on a particularly difficult intervention zone (friable plateau of the 2007 lava flow)”, added the prefecture, specifying that 32 people, rescuers and medical teams, were involved in this evacuation.
The crew is composed of Indians and Bangladeshis, for its part indicated the Ministry of Overseas.
The prefecture clarified overnight from Thursday to Friday that the TrestaStar, a bunker-type tanker, was carrying no cargo and contained less than 8 m3 diesel fuel (light and volatile). The “majority” of this fuel “should disperse without major risk to the environment”, she assured.
A team of experts must go there at daybreak on Friday to assess the situation, the same source.
Struggling in heavy seas and force 10 winds, the tanker could not be towed and ran aground.
“While the cyclone Batsirai is just starting to move away from Reunion, we are currently experiencing the worst weather conditions since the start of the episode, ”warned Emmanuel Cloppet, regional director of Météo-France, during a press briefing at the start of evening, local time.
Red alert raised
He mentioned winds going “up to 150 km / hour” and more than 500 mm of rain recorded in the cirques and 1200 mm in the massif of the Piton de la Fournaise volcano.
The island was placed on hurricane red alert Wednesday at 7 p.m. local time, requiring residents to barricade themselves.
This alert will be lifted from this Friday at 9 a.m., the prefect decided.
A safeguard phase has been triggered, and “is accompanied by the maintenance of a certain number of measures intended to preserve the safety of the population, which will be specified […] by 9 a.m. ”, detailed the prefecture in a press release.
Access to the cirques of Salazie and Cilaos remained closed on Thursday, as did the coastal road which connects the administrative capital Saint-Denis to the port and the heavily populated western towns. The Mountain road leading to Saint-Denis was also closed.
Floods and rising waters
The prefect again asked the 860,000 inhabitants of the island to remain vigilant in terms of floods and rising waters: “we still have seven rivers placed in yellow vigilance, but their passage in orange vigilance is to be expected in the next few hours with regard to precipitation.
The prefect deplored 12 injuries during the night from Wednesday to Thursday and listed Thursday evening 38 interventions directly linked to the cyclone “for small-scale events”.
Ten people were poisoned with carbon monoxide, in the commune of Le Tampon, because of a generator. A firefighter was also “electrified during an intervention on a flag fire in Saint-Denis” and a person injured in Le Tampon after a fall from a roof.
Water cuts continued on the island and “43,634 homes” remained without electricity Thursday evening, according to the prefect
At the end of the week, Batsirai should affect the east coast of Madagascar and in particular the Mahanoro region, forecasts Météo-France.
“Conditions will quickly deteriorate with strong winds, waves approaching 8m in height […] Heavy rains could then concern the southern half of Madagascar, ”says the latest cyclonic activity bulletin from Météo-France.