Israel closes its Mediterranean beaches after oil spill

More than 150km of Israel’s Mediterranean beaches were closed on Sunday after an offshore oil spill dumped tons of tar along the coastline during a heavy storm last week. A 17-meter-long young fin whale, dead after ingesting the black poison, was washed onto a southern beach last week. Some volunteers for the cleanup, hospitalized after inhaling toxic fumes, were told to coordinate with the authorities. Israel and European agencies find that a shipping passing some 50km from the shore on Feb. 11 may have been the source of Israel’s worst ever ecological disaster.