Wakashio

The MV Wakashio oil spill occurred on 25 July 2020 at around 16:00 UTC, when the Japanese-controlled bulk carrier MV Wakashio ran aground on a coral reef off the southern coast of Mauritius. The ship began to leak fuel oil and broke apart in mid-August. Although much of the oil on board was pumped out before she broke in half, an estimated 1,000 tonnes of oil spilled into the Indian Ocean in what some scientists deemed the worst environmental disaster Mauritius had ever seen. Two weeks after the incident, the Mauritian government declared it a national emergency.