There is an oil spill near Tanjung Piai, Johor caused by a collision between a container vessel and an oil tanker last Saturday, February 17. I am not sure how bad it is but the authority states that situation is under control and that the two vessels seem to have suffer only minor damage. Despite the comfort the authority is giving to concerned individuals, the spill is expected to be cleared eight days after the accident:
JOHOR BARU: The oil spill off Tanjung Piai will be cleared by this weekend.
The sea stretch was hit by an oil spill when an oil tanker collided into a container vessel there last Saturday.
The Marine Department, Department of Environment and two oil spill response contractors are using booms and dispersants to contain, break up and collect the 50 tonnes of medium fuel oil that spilled from the container ship. [NST, Feb 22 2007]
In a Bernama report earlier, the cleaning team had expected to finish up the work sooner:
Southern Region Marine Department Director Hazman Hussein, when contacted, said only two oil spots were still visible about two nautical miles from Tanjung Piai and efforts had been taken to clean them. [Bernama, Feb 19 2007]
I wonder how long the clean up activity would take if it had been a larger spill.
I am not being critical of the clean up team but I do think given that Malaysia controls one of the world’s busiest waterways, the threat of major oil spills is real. Thus, we need to have a quick-response clean up team that could do the job fast.
