OIL SPILL: CLEAN-UP ON BEACHES OF SUNGAI RENGIT, TELUK RAMUNIA STARTS TODAY

JOHOR BAHRU, June 21 (Bernama) -- The clean-up work on the beaches of Sungai Rengit and Teluk Ramunia following a ship collision at Pasir Panjang Terminal, Singapore which resulted in the spill of marine fuel oil (MFO) in Pengerang waters has officially started at 9.30 am today.

State Health and Environment Committee chairman Ling Tian Soon said the clean-up work on both beaches was done with coordination from various parties and agencies.

According to him, the insurance company responsible for the shipping company involved in the incident has appointed a contractor capable of cleaning these chemicals to carry out the cleaning work, and all costs will be borne by the insurance company.

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"A ship collision last Friday (June 14) at a port in Singapore has resulted in a spill of 400 tonnes of oil.

"With the turbulent waves for several days, the oil spill has drifted into our waters in Pengerang and on Wednesday morning, traces of the oil spill were found on the shores of Sungai Rengit and Teluk Ramunia and have polluted about one kilometre of the shoreline here.

"The Johor Environment Department, the Kota Tinggi District Office, the Marine Department and others will continue to monitor the works to ensure that the coastal area contaminated with the oil is cleaned up and the situation returns to normal," he said in a statement today.

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He said, the authorities will also monitor the situation on the sea surface and be ready at any time, besides the Johor Environment Department and the Singapore Environment Department will also continue to cooperate and share information to ensure that this oil pollution incident can be resolved effectively.

Yesterday, he was reported to have said that the Johor Environment Department (JOE) is actively conducting follow-up monitoring of the case of ship collision at the Pasir Panjang Terminal, Singapore which resulted in the spillage of marine fuel oil (MFO) of 380 low sulphur in Pengerang waters.

He said following that, the DOE has requested assistance from the Southern Region Marine Department, Johor Port Authority, Kota Tinggi District Office, Pengerang Municipal Council (MPP), Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency, Malaysian Marine Police, Royal Malaysian Navy, Civil Defence Force, Dialog Terminals Pengerang Sdn Bhd and Petroliam Nasional Bhd (Petronas) Pengerang to assist patrol activities and obtain information on the current situation at sea.

On June 14 (Friday), a Vox Maxima ship from the Netherlands collided with an oil tanker Marine Honor of Singapore which caused about 400 tonnes of oil to leak into the waters around the coast of Singapore and has spread to national waters and is projected to spread to the coast of Teluk Ramunia.

-- BERNAMA