Lebanon To Receive Assistance With Oil Spill
August 17, 2006
Residents have been returning to southern Lebanon (file photo) (epa)
The experts estimate that the cleanup operation will cost at least $65 million.
But United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) Executive Director Achim Steiner told journalists that
the precise threat caused by the leak remained unknown.
That's because inspection crews had no access to the affected area prior to a cease-fire between Israeli forces and the Hizballah militia.
UNEP estimates that up to 15,000 tons of oil polluted 150 kilometers of shoreline.
Officials from the UN, the EU, and the International Maritime Organization as well as ministers from Lebanon, Syria, Turkey, and Cyprus were attending the meeting in the Greek port of Piraeus.
(AFP)