Interview: ‘Effects may last years’

Environmentalists warn of disastrous long-term damage to sea life off Australia’s coast.

wwf interview

Millions of litres of oil from a ruptured well have been spewing into the Timor Sea off the coast of Australia for more than two months.

Al Jazeera spoke to Gilly Lewellyn, from the World Wildlife Fund, who said hundreds, maybe thousands, of sea birds and marine animals have been exposed to toxic chemicals, and many of them have died.

With the Australian government saying up to two thousand barrels of oil could be seeping into the sea each day, the WWF said the spill is akin to the 1989 Exxon Valdez disaster off the US state of Alaska, the effects of which lasted for 20 years

Source: Al Jazeera