The Greenpeace NGO deplores the frequency of this type of incident in the Kingdom: between 1974 and today, 240 hydrocarbon spills have been identified in Thailand.
Le Monde with AFP
Nearly a week after the start of oil leak, the Thai Navy and scientists remained mobilized on Monday 31 January to clean the damage caused by a black tide in the Gulf of Thailand.
Leakage on a Pipeline belonging to Star Petroleum Public Refining Company Limited (SPRC) started on January 25, off Rayong province, about twenty kilometers from the coast. At least 60 tonnes spread to the sea (60,000 liters) before the leak, which started off Rayong province, mastered.
The pollution area covers about fifty square kilometers, based on Sunday satellite images. The oil table started touching the coast this weekend.
The beach of Mae Ram Phueng was closed to swimmers, while teams in protective combination began cleaning operations, found journalists from the France-Press agency (AFP). A small bay of Koh Samet’s tourist island is also threatened.
Oil should continue to run on the shoreline in the coming days due to wind strengthening. In the meantime, a dozen ships spray thousands of liters of chemicals on the affected area. These products, which decompose oil into small particles, flow at the bottom of the sea and contaminate fauna and flora, explains to AFP Thanomsak Boonphakdee from the University of Burapha.
240 spills. Hydrocarbon since 1974
In 2013, the region had already been touched by a black tide: just over 50,000 liters of crude oil had spilled due to the leak of an oil pipe. Marine life put “at least five years” to recover from this incident, “said Thanomsak Boonphakdee. “Crabs, small fish and shrimp are the most affected.”
Tourism professionals, already very affected by the pandemic, make gray mine, just like the fishermen, to whom the authorities have requested, in exchange for financial compensation, not to work in the area for at least one month.
The Minister of Natural Resources and the Thai Environment, Varawut Silpa-Archa, urged oil companies to strengthen prevention measures and to intensify inspections and maintenance programs on land and at sea. Greenpeace has His side asked the Thai government to diligently independent. The NGO deplores the frequency of this type of incident in the Kingdom: between 1974 and today, 240 oil spills have been identified in Thailand, according to it.