A team of Israeli investigators sent to Greece to inspect a ship suspected of causing an oil spill that has covered much of Israel's shoreline with tar has concluded the vessel was not responsible for the natural disaster, the Environment Protection Ministry said, Sunday.
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Israel has been looking at a spill from a ship that passed about 50 kilometers (30 miles) offshore on Feb. 11 as the possible source of what environmental groups are calling a disaster for wildlife.
"We will ... use all means until we find the environmental perpetrator responsible for the pollution," Environmental Protection Minister Gila Gamliel said in a statement, Saturday.
Volunteers and thousands of soldiers have been gathering daily on Israel's beaches to remove the clumps of sticky black tar, which have also been washing up in southern Lebanon.
Representatives for the Minerva Helen, a Greek-flagged ship suspected of being the source of the pollution, told Israel Hayom the vessel could not have been responsible for the spill.
"The tanker had no cargo [oil] on deck – it was completely empty. It reached Singapore via the Suez Canal and waited for orders between Feb.4-11. That is totally normal for this kind of ship," they said.
To bolster their position, the company quoted a report from the online shipping magazine Lloyd's List that quoted European sources as supposedly confirming that the "Minerva Helen could not be the source [of the pollution] because it was not at the location where the spill was reported to have occurred."
During a press conference on the investigation last week, the Environmental Protection Ministry refused to comment on any of the suspects, noting merely that it was receiving assistance from "shipping authorities in other countries."
Meanwhile, a team from the Israeli Air Force's Shoval drone unit located a new oil spill some 150 kilometers (93 miles) from Israel's shores. Earlier Saturday, Defense Minister Benny Gantz authorized the use of the unmanned aircraft to locate the spill, at the request of the Environmental Protection Ministry.
According to initial findings and models generated by the Israel Oceanographic and Limnological Research, the spill is not expected to reach Israel's shores before March 1. Likewise, no international body has alerted Israel to the spill, and the Environmental Protection Ministry reported to the Malta-based Regional Marine Pollution Emergency Response Center on its findings thus far.
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