There is a risk of major environmental damage after a huge fire broke out when a cargo ship carrying highly toxic chemicals collided with an oil tanker in the North Sea on Monday, 10 March.
“ Sodium cyanide is a very toxic material,” Paul Johnston, Principle Scientist at Greenpeace Research Labs told The Independent. “It has been used in the past for poisoning fish deliberately.”
Toxic waste spilling into the North Sea could devastate marine life and sea birds in the nearby Humber estuary, so attention has turned to ways to limit environmental damage.
“ The biggest concern to the environment is the degree to which the materials can disperse,” says spokesperson for the Marine Conservation Society, Calum Duncan.
