Environment Ministry winds up 2-day oil spill drill in Eilat

The Environmental Protection Ministry winds up a two-day emergency oil spill drill close to the Europe Asia Pipeline Company’s port in Eilat.

The scenario was based on an imagined mishap during the unloading of crude from a tanker, and saw participants launching into action out at sea and on the beach.

It brought together several emergency services, the Eilat Municipality, the Israel Nature and Parks Authority, and a team of marine emergency volunteers trained by the Ecoocean organization.

The exercise showed “a significant leap forward in the way all the emergency services are working together,” ministry Director-General Galit Cohen says.

But budgets must be strengthened and manpower substantially increased at the ministry’s marine unit in order to bolster Israel’s preparedness for marine pollution events, “which happens and will happen,” she adds.