90 tons of oil waste removed from beaches in Hong Kong
Print Edition
Hong Kong yesterday stepped up its efforts to clear a massive palm oil spill, with authorities scooping up more than 90 tons of foul-smelling clumps in one of the worst environmental disasters to blight its waters.
Dead fish, shells, rocks, plastic bottles and other rubbish could still be found coated with globules of oil on beaches across Hong Kong six days after two vessels collided in the Pearl River estuary.
The Hong Kong government said it had scooped up 93 tons of oil waste, most of it congealed, and the amount left floating on the sea surface had fallen significantly.
Stretches of some of Hong Kong’s most popular beaches were still smothered with white clumps of jelly-like palm oil yesterday and an accompanying sour stench.
The spill has sparked outrage among some residents and environmentalists and comes just a year after mountains of rubbish washed up on Hong Kong’s beaches, with labels and packaging indicating most of it had come from China’s mainland.
The government has closed 13 beaches since Sunday, a day after it said it had been told of the spill by mainland authorities.
Environmental groups have said the size of the spill could bring severe ecological consequences, although the government said preliminary tests showed few traces of oil in affected areas.
Samantha Lee, conservation manager at the World Wildlife Fund in Hong Kong, said 1,000 tons of palm oil spilled into the water after the vessels collided, out of a total of 9,000 tons.
The impact on the marine life, which includes the endangered Chinese white dolphins — also known as pink dolphins — was not immediately clear.
On Pui O beach on Lantau Island, large stinking clumps of congealed palm oil dotted the shoreline, and a rock formation at one end that children love to climb was coated in the slippery substance.
Scores of workers fanned out in the area to scoop up oil waste, more than 100 black bags of which were piled up early yesterday ready to be trucked away.
There was a similar scene on nearby Lamma Island, where authorities and residents have also been busy cleaning up tons of oil.
The spill comes at the height of summer, when visitors, campers and holidaymakers throng to beaches and outlying islands, especially at weekends.
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