A Japanese company whose freighter remains stranded after running aground off the Indian Ocean island nation of Mauritius said Thursday it will deal "in good faith" with the issue of compensation, after the ship leaked more than 1,000 tons of fuel oil.
Nagashiki Shipping Co., an Okayama Prefecture-based company, said in a statement that it "feels deep responsibility" over the incident, and vowed to exercise the appropriate law for compensation.
The statement came after Mauritius Prime Minister Pravind Jugnauth indicated at a press conference Wednesday that the island country will decide whether to seek compensation based on investigations into the cause of the accident.
In the statement from Kiyoaki Nagashiki, the company's president, there was an apology to the people of Mauritius for the accident and a promise to "continue to do our utmost to remove the leaked oil and keep environmental impacts to a minimum."
The Panama-flagged bulk carrier Wakashio, operated by Mitsui O.S.K. Lines Ltd., was carrying a total of some 3,800 tons of fuel oil when it ran aground on July 25. Leakage began last week when one of the five fuel tanks suffered a crack.
The Mauritius authorities have been working to withdraw the remaining oil from the ship's undamaged tanks and the government said Wednesday that the operations were almost complete.
