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Israeli female soldier with collected oil residues on Atlit beach near Haifa
Photo: RONEN ZVULUN / REUTERS
The investigators came as a surprise.
On Saturday, Greek and Israeli experts jointly examined the oil tanker "Minerva Helen" in the port of Piraeus.
The ship was considered a prime suspect in one of the largest environmental disasters in Israel in recent years.
Large quantities of sticky lumps of black tar had surfaced along a 160-kilometer stretch of the country's coast since mid-February.
They apparently go back to massive pollution that must have happened somewhere between February 6th and 10th out on the Mediterranean Sea.
It quickly seemed to be clear that the crew of a ship was responsible - but the further details are still not clear to this day.
Especially since the investigations on the "Minerva Helen" at the weekend only led to the conclusion that at least this ship was probably not.
The ship's owners had previously categorically ruled out that they were responsible for the oil spill.
The "Minerva Helen" had no cargo on board at the time of the pollution.
The list of other suspects now includes dozens more entries, according to the Washington Post.
According to the report, researchers at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem last week examined samples collected on a beach in the city of Bat Yam.
The pollution is therefore actually crude oil.
That would suggest that a tanker leak or an accident while reloading oil between two ships is actually responsible for the environmental disaster.
70 tons collected so far
The death of a fin whale and several sea turtles has been linked to the pollution.
Other affected turtles are currently being cared for.
In the meantime, stretches of coast in Lebanon are also affected, it said.
In Israel alone, $ 14 million has been budgeted for the cleanup so far.
According to Israeli media reports, 70 tons of oil residues had been collected by last week.
In total, the authorities assumed 1200 tons of oil that would have to be collected from the coastal areas.
The Ministry of Health has banned the consumption of fish and seafood from the area.
Meanwhile, Israeli Air Force drones have spotted further pollution in the Mediterranean west of Haifa.
However, this has recently moved away from the coast, according to the military.
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