Waves at tourist spot black with spilled oil

Hundreds of workers clear sea and sand after pipeline malfunction.

Streaks of crude oil marred the beach on a popular tourist island in Thailand’s eastern sea despite attempts to clean up a spill from a leaking pipeline.

Tourists were warned to stay away as black waves left inky globs on Samet Island’s once serene white beaches yesterday while hundreds of workers in white jumpsuits laboured to scrape the sand clean and remove oil from the water.

Oily streaks about 300m wide marred the shore of Prao Bay on the island that is one of the most popular beach destinations for Thai and foreign tourists in the Gulf of Thailand, Rayong deputy governor Supeepat Chongpanish said.

He said authorities closed the bay as 300 workers tried to remove the oil from the white beach and the water.

“The top priorities right now are to get rid of the oil on the sand and the seawater, and to make sure the spill doesn’t spread to other shores,” Supeepat said.

About 50 tonnes of oil spilled into the sea off Rayong province on Saturday from a leak in the pipeline operated by PTT Global Chemical, a subsidiary of state-owned oil and gas company PTT.

Provincial authorities declared the nearby area a disaster zone, and those affected will receive immediate assistance.

“The black waves started rolling in since last night and by the morning the beach was all tainted with oil,” said Kevin Wikul, the assistant front desk officer at a resort in Prao Bay.

The company said it detected a leak when crude oil from a tanker moored offshore was being transferred to the pipeline, 20km from a refinery in Map Ta Phut, one of the largest industrial estates in Southeast Asia.

The company said it has flown in oil spill management experts and a plane from Singapore to remove the crude oil. Thai navy vessels also joined the cleanup efforts.

Authorities said it would take some time to assess the environmental damage.

“The spill is definitely having an impact on the environment, but we have not detected any deaths of marine animals yet at this point,” provincial Governor Wichit Chatphaisit said.

“PTT will have to take responsibility for the damage this has caused.”

He said pollution control department officials had expressed concern about the effects of the chemical used to clean up the spill.

PTTGC apologised and said the cleanup would likely be completed within three days. “We acknowledge this incident has damaged our reputation and we will not let it happen again,” chief executive Anon Sirisaengtaksin said.

In 2009, another PTT subsidiary was involved in the Montara oil spill, one of Australia’s worst oil disasters, in the Timor Sea off western Australia.

- AP

By Thanyarat Doksone

Waves at tourist spot black with spilled oil