INGAPORE: Johor has started coastal clean-ups and activated coastal patrols and monitoring activities in Kota Tinggi district following an oil spill in Singapore last week that released around 400 tones of fuel into the sea.
Clean-ups began on Friday (Jun 21) morning at two beaches, Sungai Rengit and Teluk Ramunia, said state health and environment committee chairman Ling Tian Soon in a Facebook post.
Earlier, he said related agencies will continue monitoring pollution from the incident at the waters off Pengerang from time to time, news outlet Malay Mail reported.
Sungai Rengit and Pengerang are located east of Changi, tens of kilometers from areas in Singapore such as East Coast Park and the beaches of Tanah Merah that have been affected by the oil spill.
The spill was caused by a Netherlands-flagged dredger, Vox Maxima, hitting and rupturing one of the oil cargo tanks of Singapore-flagged bunker vessel Marine Honour at the Pasir Panjang Container Terminal (PPT) on Jun 14.
Mr Ling said that his department received information from Singapore’s National Environment Agency regarding the oil spill at 8.30am on Tuesday, according to news outlet Malay Mail.
He added that the next day at around 9.30am, Johor’s Department of Environment also received information from the Pengerang Municipal Council that there was oil pollution on Kota Tinggi’s Sungai Rengit beach.
Reference: https://www.channelnewsasia.com/asia/malaysia-johor-pollution-singapore-oil-spill-4426236?cid=cna_flip_070214