Thread: Oil spill hits Phuket beaches

PHUKET: An oil spill washing up onto Phuket beaches as tar balls has now reached from Mai Khao Beach at the northern end of the island all the way to Nai Harn Beach at the southern end of Phuket’s west coast.

The tar balls have turned large stretches of sand dark, and raised serious concerns among local residents.


The Phuket News was first informed of tar balls washing ashore at Mai Khao Beach at the northern end of the island on Sunday (June 13) in what at the time was believed to be an isolated incident


Now tar balls have been confirmed as far south as Kata Beach and even Nai Harn Beach, the southernmost beach on Phuket’s west coast, more than 37 kilometres from Mai Khao in a straight line.


At Mai Khao Beach, one local resident told The Phuket News that at first he and his partner did not realise the extent of the problem, but then realised that oil was plastered across the bottom of their shoes.


After understanding what they were looking at, the beachgoer described the situation, “There are globs of oil all over. Very bad, very sad.”


Another local resident told The Phuket News today that he first encountered the tar balls at Nai Harn last night while he was playing football on the beach.


“I saw something had stuck to the ball and I tried to wipe it off but it just smeared,” he said.


“Then when I got home I saw it all up the back of my legs, and it wouldn’t wash off,” he added.


The resident returned to the sands this morning for a beach cleanup at Kata.


“It was everywhere. We cleaned up what we could,” he said.


The Phuket News has yet to receive reports that tar balls have washed up at other beaches along the west coast, including Patong Beach, or reports that local officials have launched any response to clear the oil from the sands.


Oil spill hits Phuket beaches

Originally Posted by misskit

Very bad, very sad.”

Had he been taking elocution lessons from Trump?

Just in time for the reopening...maybe open some decontamination booths where beach goers can have the smears cleaned off their body?

Oil spill tar balls wash ashore at Patong, Nai Yang



PHUKET: Oil in the waters off the west coast of Phuket have continued to wash ashore, today plaguing Patong Beach and Nai Yang Beach* at the northern end of the island.

At Patong Beach, the oil was washed ashore along with other marine debris, leaving a line of waste from the ocean strewn along the waterline.


Mixing with sand on the beach, the oil formed what are commonly called “tar balls”.


Further north at Nai Yang Beach*, oil-covered blogs of marine debris lay strewn along the beach as families played nearby.


Oil first started washing ashore further north at Mai Khao lasy Sunday, but by Thursday and Friday this week was starting the plague other popular beaches such as Kata and Nai Harn beaches, some 37 kilometres away at the southern end of the island.


On Thursday afternoon more than 50 people were needed to rescue a sperm whale at Bang Tao Beach, on Phuket’s central west coast. The whale had several wounds along with oil smeared all over its nose and along its body.


The whale was taken into care by marine biologists at the Sireetarn Marine Endangered Animal Rescue Center, based at the Phuket Marine Biological Centre (PMBC) at Cape Panwa.



Oil spill tar balls wash ashore at Patong, Nai Yang

Originally Posted by Farang Ky Ay

Just in time for the reopening...maybe open some decontamination booths where beach goers can have the smears cleaned off their body?

They will use the trickle of captive quarantined tourists to clean the beaches. Not much else for these , tagged ‘criminals’ to do.

^ maybe they could even charge tourists to take part in the cleaning.

Originally Posted by Farang Ky Ay

^ maybe they could even charge tourists to take part in the cleaning.

Don't give them ideas!

No mention of the cause or origin of the oil spill? Did I miss that?

Originally Posted by fat bastard

No mention of the cause or origin of the oil spill? Did I miss that?

Bilge dumping probably. Out of sight, out of mind.

Of course if they wanted to find out....

Wow! Thanks for that, that website is quite impressive.