Health officials will investigate whether the arrival of a new batch of black tar-like balls on a Sydney beach is linked to previous contaminations.
Seven beaches, including Bondi, Coogee and Maroubra in the east of the city, were closed after dozens of mysterious balls appeared in October.
Tests found that the balls were likely made of medications, human feces, drugs and chemicals, but experts were unable to identify the source of the contamination.
On Tuesday, a citizen discovered a small amount of black balls on the east side of Silver Beach in the south of the city.
Sutherland Shire Council immediately closed the beach and began cleaning up the white, green, gray and black balls which came in a variety of shapes and sizes.
NSW Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) officials collected samples of the debris which will be analyzed starting in October.
“Sydney Water officers found a small number of balls in Botany Bay at Dolls Point Beach, which were immediately cleaned up,” the EPA said in a statement.
‘Officers from the EPA, the New South Wales National Parks and Wildlife Service and Sutherland Shire Council have inspected nearby beaches, finding no further debris.
A series of strange balls appeared on Silver Beach, south of Sydney, on Tuesday (pictured)
In October, seven Sydney beaches were closed for similar dances. They were later found to contain various medications, human faeces, drugs and chemicals (pictured, a clean-up in October).
“This is a much smaller event than the incident in Sydney’s eastern suburbs in October, with fewer balls in a smaller area.”
The EPA is still awaiting results from samples of similar balls that turned up at Bombo Beach on the New South Wales south coast two weeks ago.
Those samples, and the balls found on Silver Beach, will be compared to debris found on several major Sydney beaches in October.