Environment & Energy

A volunteer organization that has been cleaning up debris from a cargo ship that lost 109 containers off the B.C. coast last fall says the incident should be a wake-up call to the need for more urgent action.

Alys Hoyland of the Surfrider Foundation's Pacific Rim chapter in Tofino said urinal mats, coolers and other items that were swept off the MV Zim Kingston in October continue to wash up on the western shore of Vancouver Island.

Debris has been found as far as northeastern Haida Gwaii, hundreds of kilometres from the spill site, and Hoyland said she is concerned that the longer it takes to clean up, the more material will degrade and spread along the coast.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/cargo-ship-debris-b-c-coast-1.6374869

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Only a few of the containers actually washed ashore. The ones that sank may end up polluting the shoreline for years to come as they break up.

Some of the cargo on this ship then caught fire near Victoria, BC, which was lucky because there were fire tugs available to spray water on it until it went out.