Meena S. Janardhan

Lebanese Waters Still Stained Black



Squally winter weather in the eastern Mediterranean poses a fresh threat to marine ecology from Lebanon to Turkey this year, due to the remnants of the oil slick caused in July when Israeli forces bombed a power plant south of Beirut. Between 10,000 and 15,000 tonnes of crude leaked from the crippled power plant of Jiyeh, 30 km from the Lebanese capital, Jul. 13-15. The spill seriously contaminated the waters along the Lebanese and Syrian coast. Environmental damage to neighbouring Cyprus, Greece and Turkey was somewhat reduced by operations to mop up the floating oil. But the danger persists.