Oil spill reaches some beaches on Kusu, St John’s islands

SINGAPORE — The oil spill that resulted from a collision off Marina South last Thursday has affected portions of the beaches on Kusu Island and St John’s Island, and the National Environment Agency today (Feb 4) advised the public to steer clear of the affected beaches.

The NEA also advised the public to avoid swimming, water-skiing and wakeboarding in the waters affected by the spill.

About 200 metres of the beach at Kusu Island, north of Lagoon No 1, and 100 metres of the beach at St John’s Island, north of the jetty, have closed until further notice to facilitate clean-up works in the area.

Signs has been put up at the affected stretches to advise members of the public to avoid the area.

The NEA said that it will continue to monitor the water quality of the affected beaches and will inform the public when the affected beaches are free from oil pollution and are re-opened.

Updates and the clean-up operation can be found at www.nea.gov.sg or through NEA’s Facebook page (www.facebook.com/NEASingapore) and Twitter account (@NEAsg).

The spill resulted from a collision between the container ship NYK Themis and barge AZ Fuzhou in the East Keppel Fairway about 4km south of Marina South last Thursday, Jan 30. The MPA said that it was informed of the incident at 4.10am on that day.