Solomons fear of oil leak disaster from war wrecks

[Mr T.]

Solomons fear of oil leak disaster from war wrecks
By Alex Spillius in Honiara
(Filed: 14/07/2003)


The Hirokawa Maru was sunk with appalling loss of life on Nov 13, 1942, during the battle for Guadalcanal.

More than 60 years on, the rusting remains of the 6,800-ton Japanese freighter still claim lives, this time of the marine creatures in the shallow waters where it rests.

The remains of the ship are only 20 yards off palm-fringed Bonegi beach, always visible above the surface of the sapphire-blue Solomon Sea.

Several years ago divers discovered that oil was leaking from the wreck. Local people say a smell of oil permeates the air when the sea is rough.

Michael Nonile, whose family depends on fish he catches offshore, said: "When the oil smell comes the fish don't come. The catch is down 70-80 per cent."

One of the last acts of the Solomon Islands government before it became paralysed by a 2000 coup and the three years of intimidation and lawlessness that followed was to request that America and Japan remove the extensive wartime remains.

This month an Australian-led peacekeeping force is due to arrive to restore order after a desperate invitation by the former British protectorate's parliament.

Once the government is functioning again, one of its more urgent tasks will be to press for a clear-up, not only to protect the environment but revive tourism.

The government has said leakage from the wrecks is endangering coral reefs and aquatic species. It also wants the removal of hundreds of tons of buried mortars bombs, grenades and other munitions that are still a danger, especially to children.

At least 111 ships, including aircraft carriers, battleships, destroyers and freighters, lie off Guadalcanal's north coast near Honiara.

The vast marine cemetery still bears the name given to it shortly after the war ended: Iron Bottom Sound. The horrific naval destruction took just 188 minutes of fighting, spread over five battles from August to December 1942 which determined the course of the war in the Pacific.

A total of 15,000-20,000 lives were lost, the majority Japanese, and 1,450 fighter aircraft were shot down over land and sea.

In early 1943 Japan retreated in haste to an inconsequential part of the archipelago.

When the Americans departed they took as little machinery and ammunition as possible with them. Presumably worried about the expense and fearful of setting a precedent for similar demands, neither country has since returned to remove so much as a bullet.

The Solomons tourism minister, Alex Bartlett, described the combatants' negligence as a "moral crime".

Moses Biliki, the environmental director in the natural resources ministry, said: "People are not happy about this. It was someone else's war that just came to our country and we have all this rubbish that has just been forgotten."

He agreed with a 1999 study commissioned by the United Nations Development Programme that said the gravest concern is the fuel and oil in ships such as the Hirokawa Maru in relatively shallow waters, where greater supplies of oxygen cause much greater corrosion than in ships further down.

He said: "Something has to be done because over time the iron will corrode further and leakage is more likely."

External links  

Photographs of Wrecks at Bonegi Beach - John Liddiard Underwater
 
http://www.liddiard.demon.co.uk/photoix/bonegi/