The Thua Thien - Hue and Quang Tri seas are beginning to be affected

After more than three days since the FO oil incident (a form of asphalt oil) entered the waters of Quang Nam, specialized agencies have not been able to determine the cause of this incident. Initial information suggested that fuel oil spills from the distressed Marco 168 barges at the coast of Cu Lao Cham were removed.

On the morning of February 2, the National Committee for Search and Rescue has used flying helicopters to observe along the Central Coast but still cannot determine the location and cause of the incident. However, in the waters of Dien Duong (Quang Nam), the flight team discovered that there were three specks of oil, each about 100x100m, with a dark yellow color moving along the waves. According to Vietnamese and international port authorities, during the incident, no ship was sunk off the coast of Central Vietnam.

Hoi An soldiers and people collect oil at Cua Dai beach (Photo taken on 2.2 - Labor)

According to some experts, it is likely that some tanker when passing through Hainan (China) has encountered a problem and sunk. It is also impossible to exclude a certain tanker when traveling through international waters, which has carried out this scouring and oil seepage into the waters of Quang Nam. There is also a perception that it is likely that oil spills from oil exploration wells off the Central; Notably, the well is 80km away from Con Co Island (Quang Tri). In the afternoon of 2-2, FO oil continued to flow to the shore, however, the quantity decreased more than before.

In February 2, the Southern Oil Spill Control Center was also present in Hoi An with the Central Oil Spill Control Center to assist in troubleshooting. Mr. Le Van Giang - Chairman of Hoi An Town People's Committee - said in addition to the local people force with more than 300 people, mobilized 150 more soldiers to clean the beaches. Mr. Giang said tourists more or less complained but did not leave, because the weather is quite cold today so visitors rarely go to the beach.

At noon 2-2 FO oil began to attack the beaches along the Son Tra - Dien Ngoc route. The project of preventing oil from the sea has been taken into account by the authorities of Da Nang, such as using mats to spread oil to the spill area, then using the boats of fishermen to collect.

In the afternoon of February 2 in localities like Quang Tri and Thua Thien - Hue, some beaches also started to appear with lumps of FO oil. Thus, the oil spill affected four Central provinces; The most severe is Quang Nam with 120km of coastline contaminated with FO oil, flooding to Tam Thanh coast in Nui Thanh district.

ĐNAM