Large amounts of rubbish washed up on popular Jomtien beach, just south of Pattaya city, covering the sand and driving tourists away on Sunday.

The rubbish was spread along several kilometres of the beach and included plastic parts, bits of wood, styrofoam boxes, water bottles and even iron nails.

On a Sunday the beach would normally have been crowded with Thais and foreigners, but the number of visitors was clearly down. Most chose to walk along the footpath or on the cleaner parts of the beach, and avoided entering the water.

A stall holder who rents out beach chairs said rubbish was regularly washed up on the beach, whenever the sea was rough. Tourists avoided swimming in it, fearful they could be injured or get sick.

Pattaya city cleaners were collecting the trash.