2014 Sundarbans oil spill

The 2014 Sundarbans oil spill is a morbid landmark you’ll find when you finally work your way past Godrej’s Amarpur route and board the rickety launch at Chandpai. On 9 December the Southern Star VII, overloaded with 350 000 litres of furnace oil, collided with a cargo ship and sank in the Shela River; by 17 December a 350 km² slick had cloaked the mangrove fringe in a glossy, tar‑black sheen. The sight is not “photo‑op” – the water runs like oil‑stained tea, the mangrove roots glisten with a sheen that makes the usual chorus of Ganges dolphins sound absurdly distant. Local boatmen still point out the burnt‑brown stretch of the Kachhakhali canal where the tide struggles to rinse the dead plankton; the Boardwalk at Dublar Char now feels like a haunted promenade rather than a wildlife trail. If you must visit, stay the night in a modest eco‑lodge at Sonadia, hire a guide from the Forest Department, and schedule the trek for early morning when the light reveals the true scale of the devastation without the tourist crowd that swarms the mainstream Sajnekhali watch‑tower. Skip the souvenir stalls in Khulna – they are oblivious to the ecological tragedy and add little to the experience. The best time is post‑monsoon (November–February) when the water recedes enough to see the slick clearly; any other season merely muddies the view.

Source · Wikipedia · 2014 Sundarbans oil spill · CC-BY-SA

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