Oil spill training for Labuan, Sabah, Sarawak Marine Depts

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Personnel deploying a 270-metre long offshore boom to the ‘affected area’ for the oil spill training.

LABUAN: One hundred and three personnel from the Marine Departments of Sabah, Sarawak and Labuan jointly underwent an oil spill training programme with the Department of Environment at Brunei Bay here yesterday.

Department spokesperson Pamela Koh said the training was their first internal oil spill exercise in collaboration with the three states to combat oil spills within the bay, based on Tier 2, Malaysia National Oil Spill Contingency Plan.

She said the two-day training involved theory and practical where on Tuesday, the lecture on theory was conducted by Labuan Marine Department and the practical yesterday involved the deployment of 270 meters of offshore boom to suck oil spills from the sea to an oil tank for temporary storage.

“This exercise aims to improve and enhance the preparation plan and in combating oil spills should it happen here, while at the same time review the effectiveness of the Marine Department’s Oil Map Trajectory Software. This software is used to predict how far the spill would occur on sea within a certain period of time,” she said.

Pamela added that Brunei Bay was chosen because of its strategic location, while the bay was also the main anchorage area within Labuan, Brunei, Sarawak and Sabah where shipping or ship-to-ship activities were common in the area.