East Coast Park, Siloso beaches mostly cleared of oil

Southern islands also cleared of oily sand; tides may still sweep in oil deposit remnants

- Ang Qing

The beaches in Singapore's southern waters and East Coast Park have been mostly cleared of oil as part of ongoing efforts to clean up the Republic's biggest oil spill in more than a decade.

As at 5pm on June 19, the beaches on St John's, Lazarus and Kusu islands have been cleared of oily sand, the Singapore authorities said on June 20 in a joint statement on the progress of the operation.

The northern part of Pasir Panjang Terminal, where the June 14 incident occurred, has also been cleared of oil slicks. That day, a Netherlands-flagged boat hit a Singapore-flagged dredging bunker vessel at Pasir Panjang Terminal, causing 400 tonnes of fuel to leak into the sea.

Oil deposits have been removed from most parts of Siloso beach on Sentosa, as well as the beaches at East Coast Park and Tanah Merah, said the agencies tackling the spill.

They are the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore, National Environment Agency (NEA), National Parks Board, PUB, Sentosa Development Corporation, Singapore Food Agency (SFA) and Singapore Land Authority.

As tides could still sweep in remnants of oil deposits, further cleaning at East Coast Park and the beaches of Tanah Merah will likely be required, the authorities said.