The NGO advocating for environmental protection 'Save the Beach' says it is heartbroken by the damages it witnessed on the Villimale reef after a self-elevating platform used for the Thila Male' bridge ran aground on it last month.
This comes after the Environmental Protection Agency EPA began a survey to determine the damage to the reef where the platform from AFCONS, the Indian contractor for the Thila male' bridge, ran aground on the 16th of last month.
While it took the contractor more than 10 days to remove the megastructure, it had repeatedly struck the reef floor and the vibrations from the impact were felt on the island.
'Save the Beach' shared its own video of the damage caused to the reef by the incident on Twitter. The video showed the scene before the contractor had cleaned up the area with several metal rods and other effects on the sea bed.
It described that these were the effects on the East corner of Villimale reef after 10 days of continuous impact on it.
The NGO said that it was heartbroken to witness the reef so badly damaged. It further said that the decrease in coral cover is an incredible loss for the island.
The EPA itself had said that there was severe damage caused to the reef because of the megastructure. The legs of the platform had caused several craters within the reef and the corals have also been broken off in several places.
EPA said that action would be taken to compensate for the damage once the assessment is complete and that it would take a week to finish the assessment report.
