Molasses spill disaster
A massive molasses spill is killing everything in its path — and nothing can be done to clean up the mess
In this attached photo an environmental cleanup crew scoops a dead eel out of Keehi Lagoon after a massive molasses spill from a Matson cargo ship in Honolulu, Hawaii, Sept. 12th, 2013.
A giant molasses spill in Honolulu on Monday leaked 233,000 gallons of the sticky stuff into the harbour.
“Everything is dead. They’re all dead and they’re all just lying across the bottom — hundreds and hundreds, thousands,” a diver told NBC affiliate KHNL.
The worst part is that nothing can be done to clean up the mess.
“Unlike with an oil spill, it’s a sugar product so it will dissipate on its own,” a spokesman for the shipping company that maintains the molasses pipeline told NBC News. “There’s not an active cleanup.”
Various kinds of dead marine life can seen in one of the attached photos showing a barrel collected by employees from the PENCO Pacific Environmental Corporation at a dock in Keehi Lagoon in Honolulu.
A dead fish washed ashore is seen in Keehi Lagoon. Thousands of fish have been killed. (See attached photo)
PHOTOS: REUTERS/Hugh Gentry and AP Eugene Tanner