Since Tuesday, there has been a very penetrating fuel oil odor near the Spanjaardbeek in Sint-Henricus, near Torhout. After investigation, the stream turned out to be contaminated with an oily substance over a distance of several kilometers.
“We arrived at the source fairly quickly,” says Rutger Demuynck of the Flemish Environment Agency. “The fire brigade was then also informed to place absorbent rolls and my colleagues were also informed to place absorbent rolls downstream because the discharge had already been going on for a while.”