JERUSALEM (AP) – Israel closed all of its Mediterranean beaches until further notice on Sunday, days after an oil spill on the high seas deposited about tens of tons of tar on more than 160 kilometers of coastline, according to authorities are calling it one of the country’s worst ecological disasters.
Activists began reporting black tar globes off the coast of Israel last week after a heavy storm drove oil products to the coast, causing havoc in wildlife. Researchers at the country’s Ministry of Agriculture determined on Sunday that a young dead fin whale that appeared on a beach in southern Israel died from ingesting the viscous black liquid, according to Kan, Israel’s public broadcaster.
The Israel Nature and Parks Authority called the spill “one of the most serious ecological disasters” in the country’s history. In 2014, a crude oil spill in the Arava desert caused major damage to one of the country’s delicate ecosystems.
The exact cause of the leak has yet to be determined and is currently under investigation by Israeli environmental officials.
Volunteers went to the beaches on Saturday to help clean the tar, and several were hospitalized after inhaling toxic gases.
The Ministries of Environmental Protection, Health and Interior issued a joint statement on Sunday warning the public not to visit the entire 195 km (120 miles) Mediterranean coast of the country, warning that “exposure to tar can be harmful to public health ”.
The Minister of Environmental Protection, Gila Gamliel, told the Hebrew media that her department estimates that the cleaning project will cost tens of millions of shekels.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited one of the country’s tar-strewn beaches on Sunday and praised the ministry’s work.
The ministry did not immediately respond to requests for an interview.