BANGKOK - Workers in white suits used buckets to scoop up globs of crude oil blackening the once white sands and emerald waters of a tourist island in Thailand’s eastern sea Tuesday, and the oil slick continued to spread three days after leaking from a nearby pipeline.
Progress was being made on cleaning the oil that washed into Prao Bay on the west coast of Samet Island on Sunday night, though not fast enough, and rough seas and strong winds spread thin films of dispersed oil to a rocky bay farther north, said Rayong Deputy Gov. Supeepat Chongpanish.
Provincial authorities have declared Prao Bay a disaster zone, but said that more popular beaches on the island’s east coast remain untouched. There is concern, however, that if not contained soon the slick could spread to beaches across the island and on the nearby mainland. Authorities said it would take some time to assess the environmental damage.
About 314 barrels of oil - about the amount contained in 1 ½ tanker trucks - spilled into the Gulf of Thailand off Rayong province on Saturday from a leak in a pipeline operated by PTT Global Chemical PLC, a subsidiary of state-owned oil and gas company PTT PLC.
Front Section, Pages 5 on 07/31/2013