Sharjah: Emergency and environment officials are dealing with an oil spill off the Southern Coast of Kalba City in the Eastern region of Sharjah, which stretched over a kilometer of ocean.
An urgent meeting was held composed of representatives from the Environment and Protected Areas Authority in Sharjah (EPAA), Sharjah Police, the National Emergency and Crisis and Disasters Management Authority — Sharjah Centre, Kalba Municipal Council, Kalba City Municipality, the Armed Forces, the Coast Guard and the Abu Dhabi Company for Onshore Petroleum Operations LTD (ADCO).
Attendees discussed various issues related to evaluating the response operations.
As soon as the oil leak was detected, the competent authorities’ team started mobilising equipment and manpower to track and investigate the source of the spill and to clean-up the affected area.
A shoreline survey was conducted and residents were asked to temporarily evacuate the beach area for public health reasons.
Response operation
Hana Saif Al Suwaidi, Chairperson of the Environment and Protected Areas Authority in Sharjah, said: “The urgent meeting was held to evaluate the effectiveness of the response operation and to plan the remaining work for removing the residual oil stain”.
She added that the competent multi-disciplinary team had coordinated from the very beginning and were able to control the spill and clean the oil stain from beach.
“So far, they have finished 80 per cent of the clean-up job and are continuing to complete the work soon”, Al Suwaidi clarified.
Al Suwaidi clarified: “The oil slick is caused by the oil spill, which is the release of a liquid petroleum hydrocarbon into the environment, especially marine areas, and it is a form of pollution, requiring an immediate response to control”.
She added: “Oil spills may be due to the release of oil from tankers, wells, offshore platforms and drilling rigs, as well as spills of refined petroleum products such as gasoline and diesel and their by-products.
"In line with the environmental impact, there will be severe repercussions for those found responsible and measures will be taken accordingly”.
“Such oil spills have an impact on marine flora and fauna. Therefore, efforts should be made from the moment the spill is detected. Our team spared no efforts to contain the oil spill”, she concluded.
