Judging from the way the authorities handled the chemical spill in Birzebbuga last weekend, it is a good thing indeed that Malta has so far been relatively immune to natural and industrial disasters. Then again, it could be precisely that lack of experience that found the authorities so badly off guard this weekend.
Whatever the case, the authorities’ failure to alert the public that one of the south of Malta’s most popular beaches was closed following a chemical spill and pending water tests is downright deplorable.
In short, on Thursday, pollution described as ‘specialty base fluids’ made its way into the Pretty Bay swimming zone following an accident at the Freeport caused by machinery hitting a container carrying the fluids.
The beach was closed on Friday, a day after it had been awarded the coveted Blue Flag status, and remained closed on Saturday. On these two days there were cleanup personnel clearly visible on the beach and it was evident that it was no safe place to swim.
But Sunday, the beach’s busiest day, was a different story. Dozens of people, children and adults alike, were happily swimming, evidently with no idea whatsoever that a chemical spill had taken place and that test results on the safety of the swimming water were still pending.
But how were they to know? No signs were put up on the beach to warn swimmers that beach was closed, not even a ‘swim at your own risk’ sign. A lifeguard was also stationed at the beach, as per usual practice, but that person did not know whether it was actually safe top swim or not.
In fact, it was not until 6.30pm on Sunday evening, after families had packed up and gone home from the beach, that the government saw it fit to issue a reminder notice to the effect that the beach was still closed.
This is a case of gross negligence on the part of the authorities responsible: the Civil Protection Department and the Environmental Health Department, and, ultimately, the government itself. The only explanation for people having been left completely ignorant that the water that they and their families were swimming in had been contaminated, and potentially even life-threatening, is pure incompetence.
Luckily, the test results found that the water was safe, but what would have happened had that not been the case. What if the water was found to have been toxic or caustic?
That, after all, is a very real possibility considering the sheer scope of the goods that pass through the Freeport on a daily basis.
No one can be blamed for not having read the newspapers or watched the televised news on the days in question, that is not a public duty. On the other hand, the authorities’ sacrosanct duty to the public was to inform it of the peril they were potentially facing be, at the very least, putting up a few signs on the beach explaining that it is closed for bathing until further notice. If there were none in stock, some could have been made. And if that proved impossible, personnel should have been stationed at the beach as a matter of public information.
In such circumstances as those that unfolded at Pretty Bay, there should be standard procedures in place stipulating and governing the authorities’ action. We are certain that proper procedures were followed in terms of cleaning up and testing the spill, but the way the information was, or rather was not, communicated to the public was deplorable.
Industrial accidents will unfortunately happen, especially at a beach so close to a commercial port of the nature of the Freeport. Let us hope the authorities get it right in the future since the next time around we may be speaking of far more dangerous chemicals and any negligence and incompetence on the part of the authorities to keep the public fully abreast of the situation may end up costing lives.