Major environmental damage risk after North Sea oil tanker collision, warns Greenpeace scientist

WorldEnvironment
11 Mar 2025 • 3:24 PM MYT
The Independent
The Independent

The world’s most free-thinking newspaper

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A Greenpeace scientist has warned of major environmental damage after 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.