Soldiers race to clean up new oil spill in Thailand

Bangkok, Feb 11 (EFE).- Thai Navy soldiers were working against the clock to clean up a second oil spill in less than a month in southeastern Thailand to prevent it from reaching land, local authorities said Friday.

Chanchana Aimsang, Rayong province governor, said in a press conference that the spill of some 5,000 liters of crude oil is located about 5 kilometers from the coast, where some remains of the previous spill remain.

Star Petroleum – owned by the American Chevron – the company responsible for the lead, indicated in a statement that the oil leak occurred Thursday when operators were working on the recovery of a gas pipeline.

Star Petroleum is also responsible for the spill of some 20 tons of crude oil that occurred on Jan. 25 in the same area off the coast of Rayong or not far from the tourist island of Samet.

Authorities cleaned up the first spill in the sea, although there are still traces of crude oil in the sand on the coast where it arrived a few days after being detected, some 195 kilometers southeast of Bangkok.

The Marine and Coastal Resources Department at Kasetsart University in Thailand is studying the damage the oil spill may have caused to the sea floor, corals and the beach.

In 2013, the island of Samet, in Rayong province, was affected by a spill of about 50 tons of oil, caused by a pipeline of the state-owned company PTT. EFE

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