The Solomon Islands Government may blacklist companies involved in oil spill catastrophe following the Solomon Trader crash.

Earlier, the Solomon Trader carrier crashed off the coast of the Solomon Islands, and a storm carried it to nearby coral reefs, where the oil on board the container poured into the sea near the island of Renell.

After the incident, caretaker Solomon Islands Prime Minister Rick Hou threatened to blacklist the companies involved in the oil leak near a UNESCO World Heritage site. 

"My government is prepared to go as far as putting the companies on a black list internationally if they do not take on their responsibilities," he said at a media conference, as quoted by the ABC news outlet.

The Prime Minister of the Solomon Islands says the environmental damage caused by oil that's leaked from a ship wrecked on an island in the country's south is extensive and mostly irreversible.

Rick Hou earlier asked for Australia's assistance to clean up the oil spill, which he described as causing "irreversible damage".

Recently, the bulk carrier's Hong Kong owner, King Trader Ltd, and the vessel's South Korean insurer issued an apology over the disastrous oil spill.

East Renell is the largest coral atoll in the world, and in 2013 it was designated by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site at risk.

 

Source: https://sputniknews.com