Oil spill clean-up: Unsung heroes toil daily for 2 months

Hundreds work under sun and rain to remove oil from S'pore waters and beaches

- Esther Loi

Twelve hours a day, seven days a week, for the past two months.

This is how hard Mr Ramdzan Salim and hundreds of others have worked to wash and scrub, and scoop the oil from Singapore's waters and beaches after the Republic's worst oil spill in a decade.

Mr Ramdzan, a site supervisor with salvage firm Resolve Marine, got up at dawn every day to lead his team in cleaning fish farm sea cages between Lazarus and St John's islands, as well as Kusu Island.

The 52-year-old used to stay up till midnight after returning home from work. But for the past two months, Mr Ramdzan was physically worn out, falling asleep after the day's work by 9pm. As a result, he did not talk to his sons face to face in this entire period.

He was among the many involved in the extensive clean-up operations that kicked in after 400 tonnes of oil leaked into Singapore's waters when a dredging boat hit a stationary bunker vessel on June 14.

Thanks to the sweat and efforts of hundreds of migrant workers and contractors, some affected areas have already reopened, including East Coast Park's beaches and Sentosa's Siloso Beach, with the clean-up work completed on the Southern Islands.

At least 1,000 workers have been involved so far in cleaning up the beaches.

The Sunday Times speaks to workers in the thick of clean-up operations at various locations.

SOUTHERN ISLANDS

Over at the Southern Islands, which include St John's, Lazarus and Kusu islands, some 60 workers contracted by Resolve Marine had been removing oil-stained sand from the beaches, washing rock bunds and scrubbing fish farm sea cages by hand since June 20.

In charge of guiding a team of 12 to clean 12 large and 15 small sea cages, Mr Ramdzan hand-picked workers with basic swimming skills at the start of each day.