BANGKOK, Jan. 28 (BNA) An oil slick off the coast of Thailand continued to expand on Friday and was approaching beaches on the east coast home to fragile coral and seaweed, officials said.
An oil spill from an undersea hose was stopped at an offshore mooring point used to load tankers early Wednesday morning, but not before 140 to 375 barrels, or about 22,000 to 60,000 liters (5,800 to 15,850 gallons), which spilled in the Gulf of Thailand According to Star Petroleum Refining, the operating company, the Associated Press (AP) reported.
There are two plots, Siam said, one small with a square kilometer (less than half a square mile) distance closer to the coast and another expanding 47 square kilometers (18 square miles) not far from it. Lawak and Roog Wong, director of the department dealing with disasters at the Thailand Space and Geoinformatics Technology Development Agency.
The Royal Thai Navy, which was part of the clean-up and containment efforts, said the main spot is expected to reach the Sahel region including Khao Lam Ya National Park by 10pm. The park is home to a variety of sea birds and fish.
During preparation, floating baffles were deployed to attempt to trap and contain the oil so that it could be collected from the surface and removed.
“It may take five to seven days to clean up oil slicks at sea, but if oil slicks reach shore, it will take years to rehabilitate the environment,” Thon Thamrongnawasawat, a prominent Thai marine biologist, told The Associated Press.
“So we have to do everything we can to not let her hit the beach,” he said.
If the oil reaches the coast, it could also affect 59 acres of coral reefs and 118 acres of seagrass, causing environmental damage that could take time to rehabilitate, Pourensri Suthanarak, deputy director general of the Department of Marine and Coastal Resources, said Thursday.
Initial estimates from Thailand’s Pollution Control Department were that much more oil had leaked than Star Petroleum Refining had reported, and Siam said it was not possible at this point to determine exactly how much was in the spills.
“We cannot estimate the extent of the oil spill from satellite images,” he said. “To know the volume we need to know the depth of the oil.”
The Navy described the slick as a “thin layer” of oil on the surface of the sea.
Star Petroleum Refining said the leak occurred at around 9 p.m. local time on Tuesday at a mooring terminal about 20 kilometers (12 miles) southeast of the Map Ta Phut industrial district, south of Bangkok.
On Thursday, the main slick covered 11.65 square kilometers (4.5 sq mi) and Star Petroleum Refining said it was spraying dispersants on the slick to try to remove it from the surface as it neared the beaches of Rayong County.
The company said that a total of four ships were deployed to extract oil from the sea surface, and seven other ships were spraying dispersants.
AOQ