Bangkok-Sana
The Thai Navy announced today that it has cleaned up about 128 tons of crude oil that leaked from a pipeline in the Gulf of Thailand recently.
"The spill is close to an industrial area and the oil is expected to reach the shores of the area by Friday if it does not disperse before then," Atapul Sharunchansa, director of the pollution control department at the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, was quoted by the Associated Press as saying.
"The navy has sent a surveillance plane and two ships in addition to a helicopter to help with the clean-up operations," Thai Navy spokesman Rep. Pokrong Munatphalin said, adding that "the helicopter surveyed the area and sprayed chemicals to help disperse the oil slick."
In turn, the State Star Oil Refining Company indicated that "the leak occurred last Tuesday at a storage station 20 kilometers southeast of the (Map Ta Phut) industrial facility south of the capital, Bangkok."
Star estimated that 20 tons of oil were floating on the surface and began work to remove them, noting that it is unclear exactly how much oil is all flowing.