KOTA TINGGI: Another oil spill, estimated to weigh 60 tonnes, was detected in the waters off Tanjung Balau here on Thursday evening.
Southern Region (Johor) Marine Department assistant marine officer Roslee Ibrahim said the new oil spill was captured via satellite, and the images were forwarded by a United Kingdom-based non-governmental organisation.
“The oil spill was detected at 7pm yesterday (Thursday).
“The matter was relayed to the Johor Marine Department director Dickson Dollah at 8pm.
“The images showed that the oil spill is located about three nautical miles off Tanjung Balau,” said Roslee.
He added that a response team on board the At Tair vessel had left Gelang Patah at 9am today to monitor the situation.
“The vessel with 12 crew members is expected to arrive at the location at about 3 pm,” said Roslee.
He added that the department had yet to receive any reports from local fishermen on the oil spill.
An investigation is being carried out to identify the culprits.
On April 20, the department spotted a one kilometre-long oil spill in the same waters off Tanjung Balau.
Following the discovery, the vessel Al Nilam was dispatched from Tanjung Pengelih to carry out cleaning operations.
The pollution from the oil spill affected the livelihoods of about 50 fishermen in the Tanjung Balau area.