GARDEN ROUTE NEWS - The environmental emergency response company, Spilltech, has been appointed to clear the Southern Cape coastline of all medicines and other products found on the beach - part of the cargo lost overboard at sea in the last month.
Eight days ago plastic bottles of pills started washing up in their thousands on the Eastern Cape coast, and since yesterday 19 September, some of the medicine and other products, have found their way to the Garden Route coast.
Head of Garden Route Disaster Management, Gerhard Otto says the washed up items, including pill bottles, blister packs and small packets with biscuits, have been spotted from Buffalo Bay near Knysna right through to Gouritsmonds in Hessequa.
In the Eastern Cape thousands of plastic pill bottles have been retrieved in clean-up operations, but to date only a sprinkling have been detected on the Southern Cape's beaches.
Otto asks the public not to remove the washed up pills and other products, but to contact Spilltech on 063 404 2128 to report any items washing ashore.
People are also asked to provide a pin location to make it easy for Spilltech to find the exact spot for speedy retrieval.
The medicine has been traced to cargo containers lost overboard from vessels in the Indian Ocean over the past month during storms at sea. One of the vessels, the MSC Antonio, lost 46 containers overboard on 28 August and is currently berthed in Cape Town where a stock take has been done to determine exactly what had been lost at sea.
The containment and recovery effort of the containers still adrift at sea or lying on the ocean bed, is the responsibility of the South African Maritime Safety Association (Samsa) and the search continues.
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