Oil spill in Haifa Bay forces beach closures
Ship hits underwater pipeline during maintenance work to remove old infrastructure
Stuart Winer is a breaking news editor at The Times of Israel.
An oil spill Tuesday polluted Haifa Bay after a ship hit an old fuel supply line, pouring hundreds of gallons of oil into the water.
The current carried the slick toward the shore and northward, prompting the closure of beaches in Haifa and the surrounding area as emergency crews worked to contain and clean the spill.
In a statement, the Environmental Protection Ministry said the leak was “several cubic meters” in size and was not “very large.”
Kiryat Yam, which lies directly north of Haifa, was expected to be worst-hit by the leak, the ministry said.
The Health Ministry issued a warning against bathing in the sea along the Haifa coast and nearby beaches.
Haifa, home to Israel’s largest seaport, is also a center of chemical production plants and oil refineries.
The spill happened during maintenance work to replace old pipelines operated by the Petroleum and Energy Infrastructures company.
“In cooperation with, and under the instructions of, the Environmental Protection Ministry, the company is removing old fuel lines from the sea,” the company said in a statement. “During the work, a flexible pipe was hit and oil spilled into the sea.”
It said that, in view of the high chance of a leak occurring, an emergency team had already been on standby together with suitable equipment to deal with a spill, and that the group immediately attended to the problem.
“The pipe has been physically blocked so that the leak stopped and most of the fuel was collected,” the company said.
The sea protection non-government organization Zalul said the incident should serve as a warning that Israel is not suitably prepared to deal with a major oil spill, Channel 2 reported.
“Israel is about to renew the permits for oil and gas drilling, but is not ready to deal with leaks at sea,” Zalul said. “This is a warning sign that testifies to the need to fast-track a law that demands preparation for an emergency with highly skilled professionals, emergency equipment, and adequate budgeting.”
