The Scheldt was the victim, on Sunday morning, of significant pollution due to an oil spill in the river. The act is not accidental. The origin of the pollution has been located. River traffic was blocked for several hours, say firefighters.
The Wallonia Picardy emergency services were alerted around 9:30 a.m. that an oil slick had been spotted behind the former Louis Carton industrial complex. Coming from the arsenal of Tournai, several intervention vehicles and a boat were dispatched on the spot. The environmental police and the waterways police went to the scene, as well as officials from the intermunicipal Ideta, owner of the site.
“Not an accident but a deliberate gesture”
“This was a major oil spill into the Scheldt at the height of the former mouth of the Rieu de Barge. Using a boat, absorbent socks were placed and the tablecloth was covered with an absorbent product. Waterways police blocked the passage of boats until 1:40 p.m. Circulation is now restored“, explained around 4 p.m. Lieutenant Patrice Raat who led the intervention.
Occupied until recently by TEC buses, the former Louis Carton workshops have been deserted and returned to the Ideta intermunicipal company, which intends to create a reception site there for companies practicing short circuits. “These buildings were empty. It is therefore not an accident but a deliberate gesture. One or more people damaged equipment and emptied this oil into a conduit that led to the Scheldt“, specifies the officer. An investigation has been opened by the police of the Tournaisis area and the environmental police in order to find the perpetrators of this malicious act.