Vessel sinks offshore Tobago causing oil spill; MARAD says boat was not in Guyana

A vessel named Gulfstream has capsized off the coast of Canoe Bay in Tobago and officials from Trinidad and Tobago (T&T) are trying to contain and clean up the oil and fuel spilling from the vessel.

Trinidad and Tobago authorities have not yet been able to confirm the origin of the vessel.

Director General of Guyana’s Maritime Administration Department (MARAD), Stephen Thomas told the News Room on Thursday that Trinidadian authorities have engaged their local counterparts to determine if the vessel may have travelled to Guyana.

He, however, said it did not.

“The vessel in question that we got from Trinidad, we’ve been given the name Gulfstream, but we have no record of that vessel in Guyana, either in the ports or offshore Guyana,” Thomas said.

The T&T Express reported that Tobago authorities received reports of the overturned vessel on Wednesday but its North Post Radio did not receive any distress calls from the vessel.

Since then, the Coast Guard and other agencies were called in to probe the incident. So far, there has been no sign of human life on the vessel.

Meanwhile, substance from the vessel has reached the shoreline already. The Express further noted that the Tobago House of Assembly expects that the disaster’s scale will be moved to a tier three in the upcoming days, engaging international attention as much of the country prepares for Carnival celebrations next week.