Beauty spot beaches on Tobago island are turned black after ship runs aground and spills oil along 10 miles of coastline

The spill was caused after a mystery 300ft-long vessel capsized on Wednesday

A massive oil spill off the coast of Tobago island which has turned the beaches black is ‘not under control’, the countries’ Prime Minister said.

The spill was caused after a mystery 300ft-long vessel capsized on Wednesday in waters off the Caribbean island, having made no emergency calls, with no sign of crew, and no clear sign of ownership.

The Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago, Keith Rowley, declared a national emergency today as oil leaking from the vessel affected some ten miles of coastline.

‘Cleaning and restoration can only begin as soon as we have the situation under control. Right now the situation is not under control,’ the prime minister told journalists.

Divers have so far been unable to plug the leak that caused the beautiful white beaches of Tobago island to turn black.

The spill was caused after a mystery 300ft-long vessel capsized on Wednesday in waters off the Caribbean island, having made no emergency calls, with no sign of crew, and no clear sign of ownership (oily Tobago island beach pictured)

This video grab taken from a handout footage released on February 10, 2024 by the Tobago House Assembly shows emergency workers scramble to clean up a massive oil spill after a mysterious vessel ran aground near the Caribbean island earlier this week

This video grab shows the oil spill from above as the black masses painted the white beaches black

The Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago, Keith Rowley (right), declared a national emergency today as oil leaking from the vessel affected some ten miles of coastline

Hundreds of volunteers have been toiling since Thursday to halt the spread of the oil, and the government has asked for even more to lend a hand.

The leak has damaged a reef and Atlantic beaches, and residents of the village of Lambeau have been advised to wear masks or temporarily relocate.

The spill comes at the height of Carnival, threatening the tourist business that is crucial to the dual-island nation’s economy.

Just how badly tourism will be affected remains unclear. A cruise ship carrying 3,000 people docked in Tobago on Sunday.

Rowley said the mystery vessel might have been involved in ‘illicit’ business, adding: ‘We don’t know who it belongs to. We have no idea where it came from, and we also don’t know all that it contains.’

This picture shows the measures taken by the Coast Guard to stop more oil washing ashore

Divers have so far been unable to plug the leak that caused the beautiful white beaches of Tobago island to turn black (pictured above)

View of the oil spill at Rockly Bay in Tobago island, Trinidad and Tobago, on February 10, 2024. An oil spill caused by a mysterious ship that ran aground in the waters of Trinidad and Tobago on February 7 spread along some ten miles of coastline

The oil spill caused the sand to turn black and waves brought in more and more oil

‘Tobago was never ever ready for this kind of a spill (aftermath pictured),’ the Chief Secretary of Tobago’s House of Assembly, Farley Chavez, told local media

Divers spotted the name ‘Gulfstream’ on the craft’s side and have identified a length of cable, possibly indicating it was in the process of being towed, Rowley said.

The island’s Emergency Management Agency said there were no signs of life on the vessel.

‘Tobago was never ever ready for this kind of a spill; you’re talking about an island that does not have sufficient amount of booms, an island that doesn’t have storage, adequate storage capacity for this kind of oil or for toxic material,’ the Chief Secretary of Tobago’s House of Assembly, Farley Chavez, told local media.

‘We never prepared for this as an eventuality.’