THE oil spillage has seeped further than the contained area of the Loughor Estuary following the train derailment at Llangennech on Wednesday, August 26.
Natural Resources Wales continue to monitor and carry out daily surveys around the estuary but today, Sunday, August 30, they have confirmed that the diesel has now been seen at many locations as far as Crofty – whereas it was initially contained in the upper reaches of the estuary near the Loughor Bridge and upstream.
The map above shows the areas where the diesel has been spotted in the Loughor Estuary. Picture: NRW
Adler and Allen are environmental specialists who are overseeing the containment and recovery and were hired by Puma Energy, the owners of the fuel.
Work is still continuing to recover the diesel from the derailed wagons and that had spilled. They have dug trenches to intercept the diesel and are using vacuuming and skimming operations. All of the watercourses around the area are being monitored and NRW have confirmed that the booms and absorbent pads that are being used are working well to remove a considerable quantity of diesel from the watercourses.
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The shellfisheries and cockle beds in the area remain closed for the foreseeable to ensure safety.
It is hoped that a crane will be delivered tomorrow, Monday, August 31 and work will begin to move the wagons on Tuesday, September 1.
So, what happened to lead to this operation?
At 11.15pm on Wednesday, August 26, a freight train carrying 25 tank wagons with around 75.5 tonnes of diesel in each, derailed at Llangennech near Carmarthenshire. 10 of the 25 wagons were derailed, causing a large diesel spill which also seeped into the nearby Loughor Estuary, and a major fire.
Residents were told to leave their homes and the two employees who were aboard the train were uninjured and able to limit the number of wagons to catch fire.
It took fire crews until the morning of Friday, August 28 to extinguish the fire, which limited the initial efforts to contain the diesel due to safety and priority of extinguishing the fire. Although initial measures were put in place at a safe distance to help to limit the spill polluting the estuary.
The incident is being investigated by the Rail Accident Investigation Branch and the section of the railway remains closed.
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