A popular holiday region in Thailand, which already experienced a devastating oil spill in 2013, is now threatened again: An underwater leak in a pipeline has caused an oil slick that is drifting towards the coast.
Royal Thai Navy footage shows a major oil slick off the coast of Rayong on January 26.
(dpa)
Concerns about a possible oil spill are growing in eastern Thailand. On Tuesday, around 160,000 liters of crude oil spilled into the sea from a leak in an underwater pipeline belonging to the Star Petroleum Refining Company in Rayong province, which is popular with tourists. The Navy is trying feverishly to contain the oil slick in the Gulf of Thailand, the authorities said. If this does not succeed, it is expected to reach the coast of a marine national park in the Samet archipelago on Friday afternoon, the Bangkok Post newspaper quoted the director-general of the department for pollution control, Atthapol Charoenchansa, as saying.
The outflow of oil was stopped after a few hours, according to the information on Wednesday shortly after midnight. Chemical dispersants were used to mitigate the damage, it said. The Samet Archipelago with the Khao Laem Ya – Mu Ko Samet National Park is located about 200 kilometers southeast of Bangkok and is also a popular weekend destination for capital city dwellers.
“We don’t want the terrible oil spill in Ao Phrao Bay to happen again,” said Sarinthip Tupmongkholsup, president of the Ko Samet Tourist Board, referring to an environmental disaster in the same region in 2013, when a pipeline leak resulted in an oil spill caused, which reached the island within a short time and could not be stopped despite immediate cleaning work. “The locals have worked for years to clean up the oil,” said Tupmongkholsup.