Parents of students at the Scarborough Secondary School and Lambeau Anglican Primary School kept their children away from classes yesterday, as strong fumes from the recent fuel spill caused by the sunken barge off Canoe Bay continued to affect the area where they are located.
On Tuesday, the Division of Education, Research and Technology had announced that both schools would reopen yesterday, after being closed since Ash Wednesday due to concerns about the air quality in the area. Students took online classes in the interim.
Yesterday, however, TTUTA’s Tobago representative Bradon Roberts said he visited both schools and experienced first-hand the lingering fumes, with the scent getting stronger at times.
“I was at Lambeau this morning and I was getting the scent but I don’t think strong enough to close school. Parents who came, I would have observed them taking their child home one time because they weren’t even waiting because the fumes were stronger and at the Scarborough Secondary—I left there about 10 am and they were still doing air quality testing,” he said.
“There was no official early dismissal of the schools but what I think would have happened is that because of the poor turnout classes may have been dismissed early but the Division did not officially dismiss schools.”
An official at the Division of Education said air quality testing was still being done and they are awaiting the reports. The official added that if children were allowed to leave school earlier, it would have been done at the discretion of the principals.
However, the students were last evening notified to stay away from classes until further notice.
Meanwhile, Minister of Energy Stuart Young has been briefed on the removal specialists who are being deployed to Tobago to assist in clean-up operations.
In a release, the Energy Ministry said Henry Kevin Teichman, CEO of T&T Salvage LLC, provided a high-level briefing on response efforts targeted at the overturned vessel and hydrocarbon discharge off the southern coast of Cove, Tobago.
“After briefing Minister Young, Permanent Secretary Penelope Bradshaw-Niles and the T&T Salvage team left for Tobago to begin work on the first phase of their response and to collaborate with the teams currently on the ground,” the release stated.
“The response team comprising a salvage master, naval architect and ADCI divers with experience in low to zero-visibility diving and sonar technology will be arriving in Tobago to execute the required emergency response. Dive gear, hydrographic survey equipment and NOFI Current Busters are being flown in from the USA and Europe to Tobago.”
Young emphasised that the effective recovery of the hydrocarbons and restoration of Tobago’s coastline is paramount and the technical staff from the ministry will facilitate the operations.