JOHOR BARU: The Johor Department of Environment (DoE) is actively monitoring the aftermath of a ship collision at Pasir Panjang Terminal, Singapore, which resulted in a spill of low sulphur Marine Fuel Oil (MFO) 380 in Pengerang waters on Tuesday.
Johor Health and Environment Committee chairman Ling Tian Soon said the department received information from Singapore's National Environment Agency (NEA) regarding the oil spill, estimated at 400 tonnes, at 8.30am.
Following this, he said Johor DOE had sought assistance from the Southern Region Marine Department, Johor Port Authority, Kota Tinggi District Office, Pengerang Municipal Council (MPP), Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency, the Marine Police, Royal Malaysian Navy, Civil Defence Force, Dialog Terminals Pengerang Sdn Bhd, and Petroliam Nasional Bhd (Petronas) Pengerang to assist with patrols and to gather current information on the situation at sea.
"(Johor) DoE also received information from MPP that there was oil pollution on the Sungai Rengit beach, Pengerang, Kota Tinggi yesterday morning. Therefore, patrols and monitoring on the beach will continue today.
"If necessary, the Beach Cleaning Action Plan will be activated to carry out cleanup operations on the beach," he said in a statement today.
At the same time, Ling said the related agencies would continue to monitor the oil spill along Pengerang waters from time to time.
"The state government would also like to thank all the agencies involved in the patrol and monitoring operations of this oil spill pollution," he said.
Meanwhile, Tanjung Surat assemblyman Aznan Tamin on his Facebook page said that a special meeting chaired by Kota Tinggi District Officer Ahmad Nazir Mohd Nasir would be held tomorrow to discuss the oil spill.
Aznan, who is also Johor Education and Information Committee chairman, said the main purpose of the meeting was to reach certain resolutions and intervention measures to prevent further adverse incidents.
"Together with Ahmad Nazir and state DoE director Dr Mohd Famey Yusoff, I have inspected the areas affected by the oil spill," he said.
On June 14, a Dutch ship, Vox Maxima, collided with the Marine Honor oil tanker from Singapore, causing approximately 400 tonnes of oil to leak into the waters around Singapore's coast, which has since spread to Malaysian waters and is projected to reach Teluk Ramunia beach in Johor.– BERNAMA
