The effects of an environmentally catastrophic oil spill that occurred off the coast of Israel in February are still in evidence, SPOT [Northern Cyprus Turtle Conservation Society] has said in a post on Facebook.
It is assumed that the spill was from a ship offshore Israel. However, since this event is now part of an international legal case, no information can be shared regarding what ship was suspected of having caused the pollution. Meanwhile, oil has been washed up on the Israeli and the Lebanon coastline covering a distance of 200 km.
“Photos of marine turtles and birds being washed up on the beaches covered in tar has been shared with the world press by the NGOs. It was also brought up in the press that a whale, washed up dead on the beach, had oil in its lungs”, the SPOT post said.
Over the past few weeks tar has been accumulating on the north coast of Cyprus. Both Alagadi beach in the Alagadi Specially Protected Area and Ronnas beach in the Karpaz Specially Protected Area, which are very important nesting beaches for marine turtles also have been affected by this incident.
