A fuel leak for which two international environmental specialists have been brought to Bermuda has been stopped, a St George’s MP has confirmed.

The spill at the Rubis facility on Ferry Road was reported to the Ministry of the Environment on Tuesday.

“The leak has been stopped with work now focused on minimising any impact of the spill,” Nandi Outerbridge, MP for St George’s West, said in a statement to The Royal Gazette yesterday afternoon.

She said Rubis took “quick action once the leak was detected” and added that government agencies “moved quickly in support”.

Ms Outerbridge said she would be in touch with area residents as more information was provided.

In a statement released yesterday afternoon, Minister of the Environment Sylvan Richards said he had visited the site of the spill the day before.

“There appears to be no immediate health and safety risk,” he said.

Mr Richards said that Rubis had a team of environmental specialists arriving yesterday to deal with any damage caused by the spill. Government environment experts were also assisting with “pollution-control efforts”, he said.

No details have yet been provided on the size or cause of the spill.

Graham Redford, managing director at Rubis, said that the company had contracted Arcadis US, a global leader in environmental remediation.

“They are sending their principal geologist and a field engineer,” he said.

The geologist and engineer, Mr Redford said, would prepare a plan based on their findings.

“Additionally, in conjunction with the Department of the Environment and Natural Resources, neighbouring properties will be visited to identify any potential issues,” he said.

One establishment in the area told The Royal Gazette that they had been advised not to use their well, and to report any detected odour of gasoline.

Two residents — one on Echo Lane and one on Shore Hills Lane — reached by The Royal Gazette by telephone early on yesterday evening said that they had not been contacted about the fuel spill.

Jonathan Starling, executive director at Greenrock, said the incident highlighted the “serious” threat that fossil fuels posed to public health and the local environment.

“At the moment we are unaware of the exact nature and seriousness of the incident at the Rubis fuel storage facility at Ferry Reach,” Mr Starling said.

“It has been variously described as a ‘fuel tank breach’ and an ‘oil spill’. Without more information about the incident, we are limited in what we can say at the moment.

“Ultimately, we see this incident as underlining why we need to move away from fossil fuels and start phasing in renewable energy alternatives,” he said.