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Oil leak from Syria heading for Cyprus 

September 3, 2021 at 4:08 pm

An aerial photo shows drill ships in the west of the Island of Cyprus in the Mediterranean Sea on July 11, 2019. [Turkish National Defence Ministry/ Handout – Anadolu Agency]

The direction of a massive oil slick from Syria’s Mediterranean coast has turned towards the shores of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC), a Turkish Cypriot official said today.

Huseyin Amcaoglu, who heads the Crisis Committee formed by the Turkish Cypriot government in response to the fuel oil spill, said this was caused by a shift in wind currents and threatens both the island’s eastern and northern coasts.

The wind is expected to blow in the direction of the TRNC for six hours on Saturday, Amcaoglu added, noting that there had so far been no pollutants detected on the country’s coast.

The source of the oil leak was a power plant in Syria’s northwestern city of Baniyas, located on the Mediterranean coast, according to pro-Assad regime media outlets.

READ: Turkey helping to prevent oil slick reaching Cyprus