The recent storms and rough seas in Cape Town have caused a ship carrying chemicals to lose 23 of its containers. The containers, carrying a harmful cleaning agent, have started to wash up on beaches near Cape Town. Major clean up operations are taking place to retrieve the containers before they start to leak and endanger sea and bird life in the area.
Disaster management teams were up at 2am this morning when the first container washed up on Camps Bay beach. A ramp was erected to allow the massive cranes to get far enough out into the ocean to collect the floating container. The second container was lifted to safety from a small cove in Sea Point. To date 4 containers have been retrieved, one of which had leaked and was empty by the time it washed up.
Teams of people wearing protective suits were armed with shovels and made to cleaned up the beaches where the chemicals had spilled by taking the top layer of sand away. The smell was suffocating as many people watched the containers and front end loaders being lifted onto flatbed trucks that lined the roads.
containers get washed ashore
for more information, videos, and photos click here
Greenfan News Article
