Oil spill clean-up completed ahead of schedule, more than 2 months after incident affected Sentosa, other beaches

SINGAPORE: Oil spill clean-up operations have been completed ahead of schedule, more than two months after the incident affected Sentosa and other beaches. 
Minister for Sustainability and the Environment Grace Fu announced this on Tuesday (Sep 3), adding that 800 cleaning personnel and 2,300 volunteers were involved. 
A total of 3,750 tonnes of debris was also removed, she said in a Facebook post. 
Ms Fu added that swimming and primary contact activities have not yet returned to all affected beaches, and that the National Environment Agency (NEA) will continue to conduct water tests daily.
Latest updates on beach water quality can be found online. 
“We hope that water quality will return to safe levels so that swimming and primary contact activities can resume at all beaches soon,” she said.
The oil spill on Jun 14 was caused by a Netherlands-flagged dredger hitting a Singapore-flagged bunker vessel at Pasir Panjang Terminal.
An oil cargo tank was ruptured as a result – releasing about 400 tonnes of low-sulphur fuel into the sea. 
The oil slick washed up along several beaches, including at Sentosa and East Coast Park. The beachfronts were then closed for clean-up efforts. 
East Coast Park marked the reopening of all its beaches on Aug 11. Siloso Beach on Sentosa reopened on Aug 3, while Palawan Beach reopened on Aug 17.
Sentosa Development Corporation (SDC) on Tuesday also announced the reopening of Tanjong Beach for swimming and sea activities.
Tanjong had been the “most impacted” following the oil spill and this marks the full reopening of all the beaches on Sentosa Island, it said. 
“The reopening has been carried out in accordance with the relevant national guidelines to ensure that water quality at Tanjong Beach has returned to normal and stable levels through regular monitoring,” added SDC.
The clean-up operation was conducted in several phases.
The first phase focused on removing the oil slicks and contaminated sand from the surface of the affected beaches. Booms were also deploted to avoid further contamination. 
The second stage tackled difficult-to-clean areas like rock bunds, breakwaters and oil trapped deeper in the sand.
The final phase involved volunteers who were mobilised to participate in the clean-up and accelerate the reopening of the areas. 
“My sincere thanks to all cleaning personnel who have toiled under the sun to clean up the oil spill. It was tiring work, especially in the early stages where there was a lot of manual labour to be done in scooping and removing the oil-soaked sand,” said Ms Fu. 
She also thanked volunteers who joined clean-up activities coordinated by the Public Hygiene Council to help with the removal of residual tar balls and marine debris.
“While not everyone was eventually deployed in the clean-up, owing to overwhelming support, we deeply appreciate and want to thank everyone for their enthusiastic support,” she said. 
“A big thank you to all cleaning personnel, specialists, partners, volunteers, and agencies who contributed to the clean-up. This was truly a concerted effort, and we could not have done this alone.”