Watch | Sand at Mumbai’s Juhu beach turns black due to oil spill

Terrifying visuals from Mumbai’s Juhu beach show that sand on over a five-kilometer stretch has turned black due to an oil spill. The water near the shore had reportedly started turning black a few days ago but as locals pointed out, the entire coastline is affected by the apparent oil spill. 

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The Mumbai Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) deployed extra cleaners to clear up black-coloured sand, according to local media. Around six metric tonnes of waste was cleaned from the beach.

Mumbai Mayor Kishori Pednekar said that the administration will inspect the situation.“I will assign a ward officer to inspect the oil on the Juhu Beach. We don’t know the reason yet but, whenever we have the information we will share it,” she told reporters.

“Usually we put sand over it but first we will inspect the situation,” she added.

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“We have never seen oil in the beach and in the seawater, it has happened probably due to breakdown of a steamer,” Pramod Virkar, a local resident said, as per propertyhook.in. 

Only earlier this week, Bollywood actor Richa Chadha had re-tweeted a picture of a distressed snake caught in the sand on Juhu Beach. 

“There’s definitely been an oil spill on Juhu beach… there’s grime everywhere…thick, black stuff. Impossible to get off of shoes. This poor guy seems affected by that too,” her tweet read. 

Some pictures that have surfaced on social media show how bluebottle jellyfish have been washed ashore. Marine animals getting washed out onto the shore during the monsoon season due to rising temperatures of the ocean. 

“Last few days of strong onshore winds have brought our yearly monsoon visitors back to our shores. Thousands of Portuguese man o’ war have been stranded at Juhu beach today,” Director of the Coastal Conservation Foundation Shaunak Modi said, as per DNA reports.