Sentosa beach reopens for water activities as oil spill clean-up ends

A huge clean-up in Singapore after a major oil spill in June has officially wrapped up, with Sentosa's Tanjong Beach the latest to reopen for water activities.

- Christie Chiu

In a Facebook post on Sept 3, Minister for Sustainability and the Environment Grace Fu said: "Eight hundred cleaning personnel, 2,300 volunteers, 3,750 tonnes of debris later, we have completed the task... ahead of schedule!"

She thanked all cleaning personnel who toiled under the sun to clean up the oil spill in large swathes of the sea around Singapore, after a boat hit another vessel at Pasir Panjang Terminal on June 14.

"It was tiring work, especially in the early stages when there was a lot of manual labour to be done in scooping and removing the oilsoaked sand," she said.

Ms Fu added that the community played an important role, with more than 2,300 volunteers joining activities coordinated by the Public Hygiene Council to help with the removal of residual tar balls and marine debris.