DAHAB, Egypt — More than a week after crude oil washed up on the shores of Dahab on Aug. 14, patches of oil can still be found along the coast. The small tourist town on the Gulf of Aqaba in the southern Sinai Peninsula is just an hour from Sharm el-Sheikh where the COP27 will be held in November. It is also a water sports destination and because of its incredible coral reefs, sea life and the nearby Blue Hole, a true Mecca for divers. Every morning during low tide a group of volunteers tends to the oil patches. During the first days after the oil spill, volunteers showed up to help with the cleanup. Now it is down to a handful of volunteers who bravely defy the scorching sun.
In most spots, the oil is mixed with the pebbles on the beach, which makes it hard to remove it completely. The trick is to sift the pebbles through your fingers, Nadine Wahab, one of the organizers of the cleanup, told Al-Monitor. That way, it is easier to separate the sticky oil clumps from the sand. The area is an official natural protectorate, therefore the bigger stones cannot be moved as it would disturb the ecosystem, meaning the ones covered in oil are left polluting the beach. Wahab and the other volunteers collect the hazardous waste in big plastic water bottles that they then leave on the side of the road for a government company to pick up.
