Oil slick hits Koh Samui beach

[PeteC]

That seems like way too much oil for the explanation they're giving. Pete

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Oil slick hits Koh Samui beach

http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/local/3 ... amui-beach

Published: 5 Jun 2013 at 21.56
Online news: Local News

SURAT THANI - An oil slick about one kilometre long and 50 metres wide was spotted along the coastline of the popular Koh Samui on Wednesday.

Koh Samui district chief Prasert Jitmoong said residents of the beachside Ban Taling Ngarm community alerted him after they discovered the large fuel oil patch washing ashore.

Initial investigation indicated the slick was diesel oil. Officials from the provincial energy office collected samples of the dirty slick from the sea for further inspection, Mr Prasert said.

Mr Prasert speculated that an owner or owners of passenger boats or trawlers operating in the area may have secretly changed motor oil and dumped the old lubricant into the sea.

He expected it would take at least four days to clean up the slick.

In 2010, an oil slick about 400 metres long was found in the sea off a nearby beach.

Mr Prasert said an investigation was underway to find the culprit and he had instructed authorities to warn operators of tourist and fishing boats not to release used oil into the sea, or they would face maximum penalties.

[Nereus]

Typical of the standard of reporting here, and it is not possible to to say if it is the reporter or the "expert" airing his knowledge.

First they say it is "diesel" then "old motor oil"! There is one hell of a difference between the two! It is not possible to accurately tell from a photo, but it is definitely NOT "diesel", or more correctly "gas oil" that is used on small marine engines. And at the price of even used oil, I doubt any fisherman is going to dump it over the side, especially if the size of the slick is correct.

It looks to be heavy "bunker" type of oil or crude oil, and is more likely to have come from a tanker flushing out tanks after discharging it`s cargo in port. If it is crude oil it is not difficult to analyse it in a lab and determine where it came from.

[buksida]

Give it a while and some numpty politician will be blaming it on the farangs, because without them there wouldn't be tour boats that leak oil ....

[Big Boy]

Or maybe too much sun cream

[buksida]

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Ferry operator denies polluting
The operator of a popular ferry service in Surat Thani has denied a tourist's claim that one of its boats spewed oil into the Gulf of Thailand.

Officials have also ruled out any connection between the leak and an oil slick about one kilometre long and 50 metres wide that reached the coastline of Koh Samui on Wednesday.

Russian tourist Ethaniel Pashae said she took photographs of the Raja 2 ferry releasing a black substance into the water during her trip from Koh Phangan two weeks ago.

However, she only e-mailed the pictures to media outlets on Saturday so it was no longer possible to investigate conditions as the liquid would have dispersed.

Ms Pashae said that while travelling on the boat heading to Don Sak on May 15 about 6pm, she saw a black liquid that looked like lubricant flowing from the boat and she photographed it.

She said she reported the incident to authorities but no action had been taken. She said she was not happy because the release of oil would harm the environment of the popular tourist destination.

Pichet Sudduan, director of the port at Koh Phangan, said he examined the pictures and concluded that the liquid had been released somewhere between Tae Nok and Tae Nai islands, about 10 kilometres from Phangan. Therefore it had nothing to do with the oil found off Samui, he added.

Since the incident occurred two weeks ago, the liquid has probably been dispersed by the currents and authorities would be unable to follow up, he said.

However, Mr Pichet said he would demand a clarification from the owners of the ferry and issue a fresh warning to all boats to refrain from releasing oil or other substances into the sea.

The slick found off Samui this week was identified as diesel oil and could have come from any number of boats including fishing trawlers.

Boonsiri Diewvanich, port director of Raja Ferry, said he had received a report from the Raja 2 that the liquid was just cooling water from a tank in the engine room, not oil.

He said his company had rules prohibiting the release of any kind of fuel into the sea.

Established in 1981, Raja Ferry Port Plc owns three ports in Surat Thani: Don Sak on the mainland, Koh Samui and Koh Phangan. Its 14 boats carry tens of thousands of tourists between the islands and the mainland every year.

Source: Bangkok Post

Thought: Those pesky meddling farangs, who do they think they are trying to protect and preserve our islands.

[DSB]

Agreed with Nereus, that is definitely not light diesel or marine gas oil, but it could be medium diesel fuel, and if it was from a ship, from the stretch of beach affected, would be looking at least 20,000 litres.

There are a couple of marginal oil wells nearby, I am only speculating, but could be leaking offshore oil wells.

From the ferry photos, to me that looks like water based s***t coming from the boat, oil would have spread very quickly to a slick as soon as it hit the water. If you look well behind the ship, the black stuff has not dispersed. Whatever it was, it should not have been pumped overboard according to MARPOL rules.

[kendo]

I think Nereus is spot on here that's spent engine oil blown out of tanks to save money on paying to have it discharged ashore.

A very serious criminal act from the ships Master and if caught should be jailed and banned from captaining a ship for life makes my blood boil.

I enforce the MARPOL regulations in the container port i work in i board a vessel with paperworkand supervise the discharge of ships waste into relevant skips bins general ships waste in one that go's to land fill and contaminated waste i.e oily rags paint tins florecent tubes etc into another.

A real pet hate of mine is ships crew painting the side of the ship alongside and dripping paint into the water i always make them stop then i take a picture on my phone then go and see the chief mate and tell him that here in Southampton we respect our environment and won't over look an act of diliberate contamination.

Kendo.