Mexico: Drone footage reveals tonnes of rotting sargassum seaweed swamping Yucatan beaches

*NO SOUND AT SOURCE* *DRONE FOOTAGE*
W/S Beach covered in seaweed, Tulum, Mexico
W/S Brown mass on beach
W/S Brown waves
W/S Brown waves
W/S Seaweed floating on ocean
W/S Brown beach
W/S Piles of seaweed
M/S Seaweed floating on ocean
W/S Seaweed floating on ocean
W/S Coastine
M/S Kilometres-long pile of seaweed
W/S Brown waves
W/S Seaweed floating on ocean
W/S Brown waves
W/S Brown waves
W/S Seaweed floating on ocean
W/S Seaweed floating on ocean
M/S Kilometres-long pile of seaweed
W/S Seaweed floating on ocean
W/S Seaweed floating on ocean
M/S Beach
W/S Seaweed floating on ocean
SCRIPT
Thousands of tonnes of rotting sargassum seaweed has piled up on the beaches of Tulum and across Mexico's eastern coast throughout the state of Quintana Roo, in what has become a yearly economic and environmental disaster.
Drone footage shot on Thursday shows Mexico's once pristine beaches covered in an endless brown mass, with more of the macroalgae being brought in by the waves, stretching out to the horizon.
Mexico's President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador estimates the clean-up cost could be as high as $2.7 million (€2.4 million), which does not take into account the toll taken on the tourism industry, the mainstay of Yucatan's economy.
The phenomenon has grown in recent years, with 2018's summer bloom of sargassum algae stretching across the entire Atlantic Ocean, from the Gulf of Mexico to West Africa.