Iraqi Ports Blocked, Polluted by Hundreds of Shipwrecks

[Barrett808]

Iraqi Ports Blocked, Polluted by Hundreds of Shipwrecks
Wed Oct 6,11:07 AM ET World - OneWorld.net
Environment News Service (ENS)

KUWAIT CITY, Kuwait, October 6, 2004 (ENS) - Access to Iraq's two deepwater seaports is blocked and the marine environment of the entire northern Persian Gulf is threatened by hundreds of sunken ships that were wrecked in wars over the past 25 years, according to a detailed new report by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

The survey, released on Tuesday, analyzes the environmental risks posed by hazardous cargo still aboard many of the ships - munitions, pesticides and refined fuels. Pollutants are now leaking from a number of the wrecked ships, the UNDP team reported.

“The current is very strong in the area where the vessels are, so a lot of pollution is being carried out to the Gulf, and is spreading,” said Paul Clifford, a UNDP survey adviser.

A survey of the ports of Umm Qasr and Az Zubayr by UNDP experts identified 282 ships by location and physical status. Many of the vessels sank as a result of military action in the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war, the Gulf War of 1991, and the U.S. led invasion of Iraq in 2003.

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