JERUSALEM (AP) – Israel closed all its Mediterranean beaches until further notice on Sunday, days after an oil spill at sea deposited an estimated tens of tons of tar over more than 100 miles of shoreline in what officials say is one of the country’s worst ecological disasters. to mention .
Activists began reporting blobs of black tar on the coast of Israel last week after a severe storm washed ashore petroleum byproducts and devastated wildlife. Researchers at the Ministry of Agriculture found on Sunday that a dead juvenile whale that washed up on a beach in southern Israel died from swallowing the viscous black liquid, according to Kan, Israel’s public broadcaster.
The Israeli Nature and Parks Authority has called the spill “one of the worst ecological disasters” in the country’s history. In 2014, a crude oil spill in the Arava Desert caused widespread damage to one of the country’s fragile ecosystems.
The exact cause of the spill has yet to be determined and is currently under investigation by Israeli environmental officials.
Volunteers went to the beaches on Saturday to help clean up the tar, and several of them were hospitalized after inhaling toxic fumes.
The Ministries of Environmental Protection, Health and the Interior released a joint statement on Sunday warning the public not to visit the entire length of the country’s 195km (120 miles) Mediterranean coastline, warning that “exposure to tar can be harmful. are for public health “.
Environmental Protection Minister Gila Gamliel told the Hebrew media that her department estimates the clean-up project will cost tens of millions of shekels.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu toured one of the country’s tar pox-covered beaches on Sunday, praising the ministry’s work.
The ministry did not immediately respond to requests for an interview.