Oops - Thai Oil Spill Moving Beyond Koh Samet To Mainland - And Now They're Using Dispersants

[hatrack]

BANGKOK – The oil spill that hit Thailand’s popular Koh Samet island appears to be moving to coastal areas of the eastern province of Rayong, threatening to worsen the impact on the Southeast Asia country’s critical tourism industry.

“The crude oil spill in the middle of the sea has an extreme impact on Thailand’s tourism,” Tourism and Sports Minister Somsak Phurisrisak told reporters on Tuesday. He estimated that the damage from the oil spill to the tourism industry will be about 100 million baht or about $3.2 million.

A satellite image taken Monday evening showed a film of crude oil spill — which covers an area of about 15 kilometers, or 9.3 miles — was moving northeast of Koh Samet Island, which is about a mile away from coastal areas of Rayong province, according to data from the country’s Geo-Informatics and Space Technology Development Agency.

EDIT

Thai media outlets reported that some thin films of oil and residues of oil that had been treated by oil spill dispersants were spotted floating near Ban Phe beach. Ban Phe beach is located in Muang district in Rayong’s mainland and about 13 miles from Prao Bay of Koh Samet Island. But the district chief of Rayong’s Muang district, Niphon Lertsrisuwattana, said on Tuesday that he hadn’t received a report of the oil slick but had told his staff to be watchful.

EDIT

http://blogs.wsj.com/searealtime/2013/07/31/thai-oil-spill-feared-to-be-spreading/