Mauritius Prime Minister Pravind Jugnauth declared emergency in the island country after oil from a grounded cargo ship spilled unabated into the nation’s protected waters. France on Saturday dispatched aircraft and technical advisers to Mauritius after the prime minister appealed for urgent assistance.

“A state of environmental emergency has been declared,” Jugnauth posted tweeted late on Friday. Rough seas have hampered efforts to stop fuel leaking from the bulk carrier MV Wakashio, which ran aground two weeks ago, and is polluting waters in a marine area off the southeast coast, AFP reported. 

French President Emmanuel Macron on Saturday said teams and equipment were being deployed from nearby Reunion, a French island in the Indian Ocean, to assist in the “environmental disaster” in Mauritius.

“When biodiversity is at risk, there is an urgent need for action. France is there. At the side of the Mauritian people,” Macron posted on Twitter.

Mauritius’ environment ministry announced this week that oil had begun seeping from a crack in the hull, as volunteers rushed to the coast to prepare makeshift containment booms as the major slick drifted nearer. Twenty crew members were evacuated safely from the Japenese-owned ship when it ran aground on July 25.

Aerial images show the enormous scale of the damage, with huge stretches of azure seas around the stricken ship stained a deep inky black. Beaches and sensitive mangrove ecosystems on nearby shores and lagoons have been coated in thick, sticky oil, AFP reported. 

Mauritius and its 1.3 million inhabitants depend crucially on its seas for food and for tourism, boasting some of the finest coral reefs in the world.