Images of a clean-up operation at Ao Prao Beach on Koh Samet, Rayong after crude oil that leaked from a pipeline in the Gulf of Thailand over the weekend reached the Thai tourist resort. Around 50,000 litres of crude oil poured into the sea on Saturday around 20 km (12 miles) off the coast of Rayong, southeast of the capital Bangkok.

The oil spill was having an extreme impact on tourism and could spread to the coast of the mainland and affect the fishing industry, officials and an environmental group said on Tuesday. Tourists were pouring off the island of Koh Samet, 230 km (142 miles) southeast of Bangkok, while soldiers and volunteers in white bio-hazard suits struggled to clear black oily sludge off the white sand.