Thousands of cubic meters of crude oil leaked yesterday from an EAPC (Eilat-Ashkelon Pipeline Company) pipeline near Be'er Ora, about 20 kilometers north of Eilat. Jordanian media report that more than 80 residents of Aqaba were taken to hospital suffering from respiratory difficulties. The Arava Highway (Highway 90) has been closed to traffic from the northern exit from Eilat to Ketura junction.

Firefighting and rescue forces reached the site shortly after the oil spill was discovered and attained control over the leak together with EAPC workers, and started to work over a wide area to pump away the hazardous material. Nevertheless, several streams of oil reached the Evrona nature reserve, one of the most important reserves in the Arava, with the northernmost Doum Palms in the world and a large population of gazelles.

Southern Regional manager for Israel's Ministry of Environmental Protection Guy Samet said last night that the oil spill was one of the largest environmental incidents in Israel's history. "The full scope of the incident is still not clear to us, but it is certainly a matter of millions of liters of crude oil, which is dangerous both to animals and to the nature reserve itself," Samet said. He said that about three million liters of crude oil has been spilled in the direction of the Evrona reserve and had reached seven kilometers from the source of the leak and that "the fear is that winter floods will spread the contamination to areas that have so far not been affected."

Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on December 4, 2014

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