The beaches of Sydney and other cities on Australia's east coast are covered in masks following the dispersal at sea of forty containers that fell from a ship travelling to Melbourne.
Forty containers holding household appliances, building materials and medical devices, including thousands of surgical masks, fell from the cargo ship Apl England off Australia's east coast on Sunday 24 May.
The vessel was travelling from China to the city of Melbourne, in the Australian state of Victoria. The incident occurred a little further north, off New South Wales, and is believed to have been caused by bad weather and heavy swells: a temporary loss of engine power caused the ship to roll, resulting in the loss of forty containers and damage to a further 74.
Officers from the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (Amsa) received reports of surgical masks scattered in the water between the towns of Magenta and The Entrance, north of Sydney. Residents of Australia's iconic metropolis woke to find beaches covered in personal protective equipment. According to local media reports, many people are making an effort to collect them, in what has become a full-blown "mask hunt".
Aliy Potts, a young woman from Bondi, told the British newspaper the Guardian that she had been unable to sleep after reading an article about what had happened. "I set my alarm and promised myself I'd do my best to help out. I went down to Coogee — the beach looked like a rubbish dump. The left-hand side was completely covered in debris, from masks to plastic containers. I bought more gloves and a couple of people came to help me. We filled several bin bags… I'm worried that, given the large number of containers lost at sea, we'll be at it for many more days. Everyone needs to find time to go to the beach and clean up."