in Sydney – Hundreds of mysterious black tar-like balls have washed up on two popular Sydney beaches, prompting lifeguards to close ropes to swimmers.
“Mysterious, black, ball-shaped debris” began appearing on Coogee Beach in the Randwick area on Tuesday afternoon, the local mayor said, leaving Australian authorities baffled as to what it could be and where it came from.
Hundreds of pitches ranging from golf to baseball can be seen dotting the coast, which is often crowded with Sydneysiders and tourists.
SAEED KHAN/AFP/Getty
Instead, a few seagulls wandered between the globes, clicking and exploring.
Balls were also spotted in nearby Gordon’s Bay, a reserve popular for snorkelling and fishing, which was also closed.
“At this time, it is unknown what this is,” Randwick Mayor Dylan Parker said in a social media post. “However, they may be ‘tar balls’ that form when oil meets debris and water, often as a result of oil spills or runoff.”
Sydney’s beautiful beach balls aren’t the only strange things to appear on the beaches recently. Canadian officials confirmed to CBS News on Tuesday that they are investigating blobs of a white “mysterious substance” that have washed up since September on beaches in northeastern Newfoundland and Labrador province.
Canada’s environmental agency told CBS News’ Ahmad Mukhtar that large samples of the white blobs littering the beaches have been taken, but that both the substance and its origin remain a mystery.
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