Sydney’s famous Bondi Beach and other beaches around the Australian city were shut on Thursday as authorities investigated mysterious tar balls that have washed ashore.
The dark, sticky, golf-ball-sized blobs were first reported Tuesday on Coogee Beach, leading to a series of beach closures across the city’s shores.
The City Council of Randwick, a Sydney suburb that is home to four of the beaches, said preliminary test results showed that the blobs were tar balls, formed when oil comes into contact with debris and water.
“We don’t yet know what has happened to produce the debris washing up on our beaches,” Mayor Dylan Parker said in a statement Thursday.
The regulator said it was investigating the origin of the debris and whether it posed any risks to the community and environment.
Persons:
Bronte, Tamarama, Dylan Parker
Organizations:
City Council of, ”, Environment Protection Authority
Locations:
Bondi, Coogee Beach, Gordons, Clovelly, Maroubra Beach, City Council of Randwick, Sydney, New South Wales, Congong, Little Bay, Malabar