Devastating oil spill in Borneo, state of emergency declared

A devastating oil spill led the Indonesian port city of Balikpapan to declare a state of emergency.

The incident, which occurred last weekend, killed four fishermen in the ignition and now it’s threatening the coast along an area of seven square miles. While the oil is contaminating land and water, the smoke is devastating the air. The disaster already killed one protected dugong. 

Balikpapan has a population of 700,000 people who are dealing with this toxic smoke. Sad words came from the city secretary, MN Fadli: « We’re in a state of emergency because of the oil spill’s impact». Indeed, there are 1,200 people who already complain nausea, vomiting and breathing problems. The city has given the citizens masks to help them with the toxic smoke. 

The exact resposability for the incident is still unknown: maybe the spill came from a bulk coal carrier, but it may be also due to a break in Pertamina’s pipelines, a state-owned oil refinery who denied his faults. 

According to Fadli «The state of the bay is like that of a gas station». The Indonesian Environment and Forestry Ministry said a recovery team was working to contain and clean up the spill. Rasio Ridho Sani, the director general of the ministry, said: «Our team in the field is investigating it thoroughly. We will soon find out how big the impact is on the environment and who will be held responsible.».