Mysterious tar balls wash up on Sydney beaches and force beach closures

Several beaches successful areas of Sydney, Australia including iconic Bondi were closed to the nationalist for 24 hours aft the find of mysterious and bizarre tar balls

Several picturesque beaches enjoyed by millions of radical each twelvemonth were closed to the nationalist aft the find of a immense fig of bizarre tar balls in Australia.

People hoping to dip their toes successful the oversea successful Sydney connected the likes of iconic Bondi Beach were sorely disappointed connected Friday arsenic officials ordered them unopen erstwhile thousands of tar balls were recovered successful the sand. Waverley Council were told by officers from the Environment Protection Agency (EPA) the objects - sized betwixt a pea and a marble - were seen connected Bondi, Bronte and Tamarama beaches.

Waverley Mayor Will Nemesh said: “The wellbeing of our assemblage is paramount. That’s wherefore the assembly has taken the precaution to adjacent our beaches.”

A further 5 beaches, located successful the Randwick City Council Local Government Area, were besides closed to the nationalist aft the find of the tar balls. However, the authorization announced Coogee, Clovelly, Maroubra, Malabar and Gordons Bay beaches volition reopen.

Transport for NSW Maritime contiguous issued the all-clear arsenic the ball-shaped debris was recovered to not beryllium highly toxic to humans.

Randwick politician Dylan Parker said: “It’s been a hard week for everyone arsenic we’ve been progressively managing the cleanup of our beaches and moving towards reopening. I’m precise pleased the NSW EPA has present formally identified the worldly and made an appraisal astir its toxicity level.

“Randwick Council volition proceed to behaviour regular inspections of our beaches and volition beryllium removing immoderate worldly arsenic rapidly arsenic possible. The proposal is the worldly is not harmful to radical erstwhile it’s connected the ground. If radical find much debris, it is champion not to grip it but to study it to a Randwick City Council Lifeguard.

"I would similar to convey the assemblage for their patience portion Council and its partners astatine the NSW Government worked done this antithetic lawsuit to support the information of our residents and our precious marine environment.”

The EPA added it is investigating the root and immoderate imaginable risks to the assemblage and environment. In a statement, they added: “At this stage, the root and contents of the balls remains a mystery. The EPA is conducting extended investigating connected a fig of samples.

“We counsel against swimming and touching immoderate balls that whitethorn person washed ashore successful the identified areas.”