Singapore beaches turn black from oil spill

Workers have been busy cleaning up the beaches on Sentosa island, Singapore

People in Singapore are working hard to clean up beaches after a large oil spill left the sand turning black.

Over the weekend, a boat from the Netherlands crashed into a Singapore fuel ship that was moored in a shipping area.

The crash punctured the Singaporean ship's oil tank, which then spilled out around 400 tonnes of oil into the sea.

Oil spills can be very harmful to the environment, damaging animals' habitats and polluting the water. They can also be very difficult to clean up.

The impact of the spill

When the tide moved back, the water left oil on the sandy beaches

Swimming and other water activities have been banned in an area called Sentosa Island, close to where the spill happened.

Other beaches across the country have been closed too, with people staying in resorts reporting that the sand and water had turned black and oily.

There have already been reports saying sea snails have been found covered in oil.

A member of the Singapore National Parks Board said there had been "no significant impact on marine biodiversity", although some oil had been found on mangrove roots nearby.

Mangroves in Singapore are home to all sorts of plants and animals, including mangrove trees, crocodiles, and birds like this egret

Mangroves make up a very unique ecosystem in Singapore, made up of swampy, watery land near the sea where mangrove trees grow. These are usually a great place for wildlife to grow and develop.

Volunteers who have been helping with the clean-up say that it could still be too early to tell the impact of the oil spill on the local environment.

How do you clean up an oil spill?

For this oil spill, there are several jobs to do.

First up, there's all the oil still in the water, which needs to be removed to keep the sea healthy. This is being cleaned up using things called oil-absorbent booms, which soak up as much oil as they can from the surface.

Oil is less dense than water, so it usually sits along the surface, which is why clean-up operations often use objects that can float along the surface, collecting oil.

Oily sand gets dug up, put into bags and removed from the beach

Singapore authorities say they are also using a chemical that can break down the oil molecules in the sea water. It's hoped that then the oil will biodegrade into the water at a faster rate, and the sea will slowly clean the spill.

There's also all the oil that has made its way onto the sand. This is being dug up by a mixture of workers and volunteers.

The Singaporean government says around 1,500 people have already volunteered to help with the oil spill clean up.