Oil blobs on beaches cleaned up, check again tomorrow

The clean-up started on Monday afternoon, when the first pollution was detected on our beaches. The people of the Public Domain Service, the Civil Protection and the Fire Brigade have already walked down the high tide line for kilometers to clean up the oil blobs. A task they re-recorded from 9am this morning. They also have to take the tides into account. There’s little point in sweeping the beach when the tide is out. This morning at half past six it was high tide in Ostend. (Read more below the photo)

Toxic heavy fuel

45 people are busy this morning between Vosseslag (near De Haan) and Middelkerke, where the oil blobs have washed up. The Belgian Mathematical Model has taken samples of the oil. It concerns heavy fuel, a tar-like toxic petroleum derivative, much thicker than diesel. Heavy fuel is still heated and then used as liquid matter in marine engines because it is much cheaper than other fuels.

So far, the bird sanctuary has only known of one bird that was contaminated. But several people were hindered. The heavy fuel is sticky. It can stick to the shoes, and when the fabric comes into contact with the skin, it can be an irritant.

Due to the small amounts of fresh oil substance that can be found on the beaches, walkers (with dogs) are advised not to enter the beaches. In this way, the spread of the oil on the dikes can be avoided as much as possible.

The cause of this pollution is still unknown.