Thick oil waste found near Batam Sea

Many parts of sea area in Pulau Belakang Padang Island, near Batam have been covered by thick oil waste causing serious pollution to the coastal areas along the island, Kompas reported on Wednesday.

Fishermen residing in the Belakang Padang island said the oil waste, which was first spotted last week, did not only cause pollution but had also forced them to stop their fishing activities.

No official reports were made from the mysterious oil waste but local residents believed that irresponsible people had intentionally dumped the oil waste in the sea area. "Many oil tankers dumped oil waste in the area in the past," a community leader Nasir Harun said.

He said that in 1970 a Japanese ship MV Sora dumped about 60,000 barrels of oil waste in the area, in 1989 another tanker Greek tanker MV Evoikos dumped 38,000 barrels while in 2000 MV Natuna Sea dumped about 60,000 barrels.

"A number of ships have also dumped their oil waste this year but they could not be identified," he said.(*)