TOURISTS to Bang Saen beach in Chonburi were unable to swim in the sea today (Apr. 23) as oil sticks continuously washed up ashore for a distance of two kilometres with sanitation workers busy cleaning up the mess, Amarin TV said.
Mr. Narongchai Khunpluem, the mayor of Saensuk municipality, urged the workers to quickly remove the dark oil spread across the beach as he does not want tourism to be affected.
He revealed that the slicks are from big ships that anchored around Koh Sichang island and often change their engine oil while at sea and then dump the waste oil into water because they do not want to pay a shipyard for the service.
This oil then floats to Bang Saen beach damaging its environment.
He has held talks with port authority officials and while they admitted that big ships are illegally changing their engine oil this way they added that they could not do anything because of lack of evidence.
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Clumps of dark engine oil spread across Bang Saen beach today, April 23, 2023. Photos: Amarin TV
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