<span style="color: #222222;">A beach in eastern Thailand was declared a disaster area on Saturday as oil leaking from an underwater pipeline in the Gulf of Thailand continued to wash ashore and blacken the sand.</span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;"><br />''The leak from the pipeline owned by Star Petroleum Refining Public Company Limited (SPRC) started late on Tuesday and was brought under control a day later after spilling an estimated 50,000 litres (13,209 gallons) of oil into the ocean 20 km from the country's industrialised eastern seaboard.</span><br />'' <br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">Some of the oil reached the shoreline at Mae Ramphueng beach in Rayong province late on Friday after spreading over 47 sq km of sea in the gulf.</span><br />'' <br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">The navy is working with SPRC to contain the leak and said the main oil mass was still offshore with only a small amount washing up on at least two spots along the 12-km-long beach.</span><br />'' <br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">About 150 SPRC workers and 200 navy personnel had been deployed to clean up the beach and oil boom barriers had been set up.</span><br />'' <br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">Twelve navy ships and three civilian ships along with a number of aircraft were also working to contain the spill at sea with booms and dispersant spray.</span>