kolkata within 72 hours of the oil spill on the shela river in bangladesh sundarbans animal carcasses are reportedly being spotted in the unesco world heritage site however an official confirmation from the forest department is still awaited the spilled fuel flowing down shela and pashur rivers has changed the look of the sundarbans some trees have reportedly gone under a thick layer of oil locals have spotted carcasses of an otter and a water monitor lizard on the banks of shela said kallol mustafa an environment activist from bangladesh however tapan dey bangladesh conservator of forests wildlife told toi that they have not received any report on animal death from the sundarbans yet movement of animals along shela and pashur rivers is less though very few dolphins were seen in the area today in spite of the fact that winter is the basking time for saltwater crocodiles not a single one was found along those two rivers and canals connected to them in the last couple of days he said an oil tanker carrying 350 tonnes of oil crashed on tuesday spilling its cargo over an 80sqkm area along shela river in bangladesh and threatening a sanctuary of rare irrawaddy and gangetic dolphins md abdul matin general secretary of ngo bangladesh poribesh andoloan said that immediate steps are needed to clear the oil dolphins come out of water every 20 minutes to take in oxygen imagine the impact this oil spill will have on their habitat he warned is there any danger to the indian sundarbans river expert and west bengal pollution control board chairman kalyan rudra points out that tide and river flow do not recognize international boundaries if there is an easterly wind indian sundarbans may get affected in winter the wind flow is generally towards the northeast but if the wind direction were to change due to differential pressure gradient or formation of a low pressure over bengal then indian sundarbans will be at risk as the slick will flow westward rudra said