S'pore closes popular beaches after oil
spill
SINGAPORE : Public beaches stained by an oil slick from a
tanker damaged in a collision off Singapore have been closed ahead
of the island's summer school holidays, officials said
Thursday.
A chocolate-like film covered a stretch of water along the
popular East Coast Park after crude from Tuesday's collision
slipped out of a floating cordon at sea.
Officials maintained that most of the spill was still far from the
shores of the city-state, which has one of the world's busiest
ports and expects 11.5 million to 12.5 million tourists this year,
more than double its population.
"The main oil slick is largely contained out at sea," a spokeswoman
for the Maritime and Port Authority (MPA) told AFP.
A National Environment Agency (NEA) advisory said "the extent of
the impact is currently minimal, but will require some clean up
over the next few days."
The NEA estimated that some 7.2 kilometres (4.5 miles) of beach and
rock bunds along the east coast, as well as a canal, had been
affected by the slick after wind and tide conditions made
containment at sea difficult.
The Malaysian-registered tanker MT Bunga Kelana 3 was carrying
nearly 62,000 tonnes of crude when it collided Tuesday with the MV
Waily, a bulk carrier registered in St Vincent and the
Grenadines.
About 2,500 tonnes of crude leaked from a gash on the double-hulled
tanker's port side, officials said. Such tankers are designed to
limit spillage in case of a rupture.
Emergency crews are using biodegradable dispersants and absorbent
material to soak up the oil, while 3.3km of booms surround the main
oil slick in a busy shipping lane straddling Singapore, Malaysia
and Indonesia.
Signs have been put up to advise the public to stay away from the
affected beaches until the cleaning is complete.
The month-long school summer holiday starts on Friday, a public
holiday (Vesak Day).
On long weekends, Singaporeans, expatriates and tourists normally
throng the park for swimming, barbecues and other activities.
Singaporean environmentalists were closely monitoring the situation
and preparing to take part in the cleanup and animal rescue
operations.
"If it more or less hits the sands, it's mainly the invertebrates
like the crabs, the sea snails that will likely be affected," said
Louis Ng, executive director of activist group Animal Concerns
Research and Education Society.
He said his group would visit the affected areas and "if there are
any animals, then we will rescue them."
"From yesterday we were told it was contained. I think we will have
a look this afternoon and will know better."
The government has loaned canvas skirting to offshore seafood farms
near the spill site to cover their underwater nets and prevent any
leaked oil from contaminating their fish stocks.
The collision took place in a busy shipping route along the
Singapore and Malacca straits but ship traffic was not affected by
the incident and clean-up, port officials said.
Singapore is one of the world's leading ports, with data from the
port authority showing the island-nation handled 472 million tonnes
of cargo last year, with bulk oil cargo constituting 37.5 per cent
of the total.
– AFP/jy
