On July 25, 2020, the giant granelero, MV Wakashio, crashed into the pristine coral reefs of Mauritius in the Indian Ocean. For 12 days, a whole country waited and wondered what was going to happen.
Then, on August 6, their worst fears came when the appearance of the shipment separated. More than a million gallons of combustible engine oil in the shipment began to leak into the turquoise coral lagoon before the government could intervene.
What remained unprecedented. A spontaneous arrival of volunteers from all walks of life and across the country, none of whom had experienced an oil spill before, but everyone who knew something had to do.
It was a turning point for an island country known mainly for its sugar cane, tourist sites and exclusive biodiversity. The oil spill threatened all this. Amid the restrictions of Covid-19, members of the foreign press were unable to go to Mauritius. They were based on photographs and videos captured through a new generation of talented photographers who found the seating out of the largest oil spill ever found in the Indian Ocean.
Here are fourteen of Mauritius’ young photographers who captured those dramatic and moving moments on the front line. Everyone was asked to choose an iconic symbol they had taken in this period. These are their stories noticed through the lens of their cameras and expressed in their own words.
“This is the first photo of a photographic portrait with frontline volunteers who played an influential role in the Wakashio oil spill disaster. As a child in the fishing village of Grand Port, Vishal was one of the first to help. Knee-high mud, he took a leadership position and was able to get a hundred gloves and boots for volunteers who didn’t have one.
Quiet and introverted by nature, he took a firm stance in a live video where he strongly expressed his opinion on how the cleanup effort was carried out through the authorities.
Vishal is located on a typical coast of Grand Port, pristine, wild and untouched by tourism and development.
It is the scenario he loves and fights so vehemently. The dramatic and serious portrait shows the defiant position it has taken in front of the authorities. It is that of the hope of the young people of Mauritius in the struggle for what is right.
– Christopher Lim
“Eagle Island is a very special position for me. You will notice plants and animals exclusive to Mauritius. Some of them were near extinction and were being rehabilitated here. It is a sanctuary for the endemic fauna of Mauritius – protected from humans and through the sea of turquoise coral. From a drone, it looks like an eye looking at the rare species that are noticed there.
This is also of special old importance to me, because during World War II the atoll was used by the British as a military base and my grandfather served as a cannon bomber.
Last week was very complicated for our country because the grounding of The Wakashio is one of the biggest environmental errors in the history of the Western Indian Ocean and now other people are angry about the way the government has treated it. The Island of The Garcetas was the eye in the middle of this storm. This photo captures the good looks and history of the island before oil devastated it. I need not to forget what it was like before that fateful day.
– Ramasawmy Evans
“Crossed by a barren and undistinguished environment, other people are placed with a dethroned, unoccupied and damaged attitude after the demonic outbreak of The Wakashio on the south coast of the island, made in paradise.
The left is just a stagnant environment with whispers of pain and loneliness. He collided with our reefs and killed the center of our marine park, the Wakashio, what did you do? You’ve been a deadly injection into our lagoons. Clear and transparent waters, there is nothing that can still be scrutinized as such on those shores now. MV Wakashio, in the center of the stone as your iron stern, you’ve fragmented the life of our marine biodiversity into pieces and left no marble.
– Arvin Bansy
“A massive darkness that slowly envelops the good looks of an ocean, an ocean full of life. Sink the manyArray lifeline. Devastate the lives of manyArray souls..»
I went to Mahébourg to capture photographs and then made a documentary about Wakashio. But when I got there, the scene was so devastating that I didn’t have the courage to stay filming and do nothing, so at one point I stopped filming and helped the thousands of other people who were looking to clear this mess. “
– Arvind Mattadeen
“These words, taken from The National Anthem of Mauritius, may not be more suited to the Mauritians’ reaction to the oil spill that hit their southern coast in July 2020. Unity in tragedy.
This symbol of Mahébourg’s seafront represents one of many scenes in southern Mauritius, where ordinary citizens from all corners of the island came here in combination and took themes into their own hands. In a massive collective effort, they built floating dams to involve the spill and anchored them in their position around the lagoons to control the amount of oil. While others on the docks have done their best to help, from cutting loose hair to feeding staff day and night, the number of other people participating in this frenzy is inspiring.
The surprising absence of heavy machinery and fashionable appliances in this symbol makes the beneficial efforts of these other brave people even more honorable.
– Blessed Albert
“On August 14, I went to a nearby mall to volunteer and attend in every single possible way. Once there and on a break, I made the decision to film what was happening around me, having also brought my camera.
What I saw that day was a reflected symbol of what was happening in Mauritius in the last few days. Everyone came here in combicountry as a country to help you avoid additional damage to our shores and beaches. This symbol is a component of a series I called “The Hand Series” and shows how each and every one in Mauritius, young and old, have come together to help make those craft booms full of plastic bottles and sugarcane leaves. The symbol shows other people of other ages, ethnicities and gender groups, who come in a combined country and run in an almost military field to build the barriers.
It shows no face because in those difficult times, they all came here in combination like a real Mauritian.
– Keshav Ramrekha
“On July 25, 2020, japanese MV Wakashio was stranded at Point d’Esny Reef in southeastern Mauritius and wrote the darkest bankruptcy in our history through a catastrophic and unprecedented oil spill in our sea bay.
An unhappy turn of occasions that brought together thousands of local volunteers who spent sleepless nights in an effort to restrict damage to the environment.
The drone symbol illustrates an unusual vision and an unusual will. Citizens hunt for the same and exclusive purpose as they race against the clock to prey to save the lagoon, marine fauna and its endangered species. Seas that constitute a blue balloon called Planet Earth.
An initiative of the Moka’mwad collective that brought together other people from Moka and the surrounding domain to contribute to the national effort to prevent the spread. “
– Appadoo Shrinu
“On August 6, 2020, I woke up like a two-month in my apartment in Old Big Port. Unfortunately, soon after, I knew that it would no longer be a morning like any other, that from that moment all our lives would change.
Like many others, I left home with my camera to capture the scenes of this tragedy. I soon discovered myself sewing oil barriers, transporting food, cleaning the coast, spending day and night on Mahébourg’s seafront with all the volunteers as if they were my family. Not only because I’m a photographer, I took those shots to denounce the lack of assistance from the authorities, to show the globals who are the real heroes who fought day and night with their bare hands opposing oil, risking their lives for their country. . »
– Laura Morosoli
“This total delight has been surreal.
Not in a million years would we have any idea that we would see other people with white overalls flooding the coast. It’s anything that’s come straight out of a movie… locals are not accustomed to those views.
This particular symbol combines our herbal appeal with the army of white monkeys struggling to keep it clean.
“This photo was taken on the first day of installation of the blessings of the volunteers made with sugarcane leaves. It was my father’s birthday on Saturday, August 8, but I headed south to D’Esny Point and see if I can help. .
I contacted Sébastien Sauvage of the local environmental NGO ECOSUD, who checked the exit to organize things with his team and volunteers. I sent for a check to document what’s going on on the coast near the Creole River. I am near Falaise Rouge, which was already affected by the spill, but 500 meters away I can see volunteers running to shore to install the new blessings, check the exit to prevent the spill from spreading and affecting the southeast coast.
I checked to jump on the boats of those fishermen who came here in the morning to attend and check to shield their lagoon where they still work, where they will fish with their young. They were the same age as my father and may feel his motivation to do something, not only for his children, but also on his own. They were guilty of finding out the benefits to others in the pre-installed pattern. As I spoke to them, one of them told me that they had never noticed such a crisis and that they had never had any idea of doing what they were doing. They had to be informed and act quickly, fitting together everything the government might not be or do. »
– Jean-Patrick Mamet
“That day, I had the privilege of accompanying some brave fishermen and professional divers who were on their way to pump the hydrocarbons that spilled widely into the lagoon.
On my way there, I was deeply saddened and saddened to see that one of the beautiful maximum lagoons of the island was polluted, knowing that there is a marine park nearby; like me still went there a week before this disaster, the ocean was still blue and clear.
However, this made our decision and the committed diver shown here, who had never before faced this kind of scenario, is unearned right on something very damaging that can most likely his health; however, he and others defended our homeland and helped maintain our marine ecosystem.
– Daphney Dupré
“Stained through a specific chain of events, between inertia and crime, how blue they have turned black and what virgins have become unclean, what life has become death, our hope has become concern. Array. We don’t know what the long haul is for anymore.” this region.
It breaks my heart.”
– Brady Goorappa
“People from all over Mauritius went to Mahébourg and volunteered to clean up oil off our shores, it’s a real team spirit, other people of other religions, communities, age groups, all running in combination with a goal, making Mauritius look just right again. Training
ThereArray however, an entity that is not a team player – the government. After doing nothing for 12 days, they then criticized the paintings of the volunteers, calling us a nuisance and establishing limited dominance so that you could not help, and they reached the point of threatening one of us who had put a sign that said, “I love my country, I am ashamed of my government.”
This caused a scandal and others came in combination to protest and this signal has become a call to gather for a giant demonstration on August 29. People have taken turns every day since Thursday 20 August to demonstrate in teams of up to 10 others (to maintain legality) in front of Parliament to give momentum until 29 August.
There are also parallel demonstrations organized through the Mauritius diaspora in front of the Mauritius embassies in Geneva, Paris, Sydney and London.
The whole country is ahead of this. »
– Reuben Pillay
“What greater praise for these heroes, who endangered their physical condition to protect our lagoon and our ocean, than this carefree baby whale who finds the joys of life with his mother.
The tenderness of these immense, nonviolent mammals that live off our shores will have to remind us that life surrounds us, that it remains fragile and that we will have to protect it.
Let’s never make saving nature save ourselves.
– Laurent Fourcade
I am a progressive economist aimed at innovation, sustainability and moral economic growth. Lately I’m working with leading generation corporations in Silicon Valley in
I am a progressive economist oriented to innovation, sustainability and moral economic expansion. Lately I’m working with Silicon Valley’s major generation corporations on sustainable expansion opportunities, mainly for low-income countries. I chair the LSE Ocean Financing Initiative, am a member of the WEF Global Network of Experts and a member of the Council of China of the CCICED. My e-book on Sustainability in the Fourth Industrial Revolution, Soul of the Sea in the Age of the Algorithm, focuses on a revival of the oceans and climate and builds on my experience as an economics and innovation advisor to Fortune 500’s GLOBAL CEOs and governments. I have a degree in progression economics from Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government and Cambridge University.