Authorities closed Sydney Australia's Coogee Beach this week when hundreds of small black balls washed up on the shore. Nobody could immediately identify the almost perfectly spherical objects that were mushy to the touch.
Laboratory testing finally determined that the balls were "comprised of a hydrocarbon-based pollutant 'consistent with the makeup of tar balls,'" reports Unexplained Mysteries.
A clean-up crew is currently collecting all of the balls for disposal before the beach is reopened to visitors. Video below.
"Our priority as a local council is to keep people safe and protect as far as possible our coastal and marine environment," said local mayor Dylan Parker. "We have engaged an expert occupational hygienist and a specialist waste removal contractor who are currently systematically removing the debris from the beaches in accordance with an agreed safe work method statement developed with the NSW EPA."
The scale and source of the pollution is still under investigation but experts believe that it likely came from from a ship leaking oil out at sea.
Previously:
• Bizarre mystery blobs appearing on Canada beach
• Mystery object on Santa Cruz beach was big-ass bomb
• Mysterious huge object protruding from the sand on Florida beach
