Story By: Joseph Golder, Sub-Editor: Michael Leidig, Agency: Newsflash

These shocking images show coronavirus pollution such as face masks and gloves found in an idyllic tourist hotspot on the French Riviera in the Mediterranean sea by divers.

The items were found in Golfe-Juan in the Alpes-Maritimes department in south-eastern France, just off the coast from the town of Antibes, and the images show the COVID-19 linked pollution the divers found in the sea like face masks.

The shocking images were shared on Facebook by Operation Mer Propre (Operation Clean Sea), an organisation that specialises in divers removing human pollution from the seabed in the Mediterranean.

The footage was shot by Laurent Lombard, founder of the association.

Posting the images on Facebook, he asks: “Fancy a swim with COVID-19 this summer?”

The environmentalist believes this is just the beginning of what is set to become a huge problem.

He said: “When there is going to be a big storm, all the masks and gloves thrown on the pavements or in the sewers will end up at sea.”

He added: “Knowing that more than two billion disposable masks have been ordered, soon there may be more masks than jellyfish in Mediterranean waters!”

According to local media, a surgical mask takes about 450 years to disintegrate in nature.

Contacted by Newsflash, Operation Mer Propre said that they wanted as many people as possible to see their images because people need to know that “the sea is not a dustbin, but sadly she is at the end of her tether.”

The ViralTab page is created by and dedicated to professional, independent freelance journalists. It is a place for us to showcase our work. When our news is sold to our media partners, we will include the link here.