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Cyprus on alert as Syrian oil slick spreads across Med

Cyprus is on alert as an oil slick that originated from a power plant on Syria’s Mediterranean coast and could soon affect the island.

Syrian state media said last week there had been a spill from the plant, which is inside the Baniyas oil refinery.

Satellite imagery showed that the slick spread north along the Syrian coast before moving westwards towards Cyprus.

Modelling suggests that it will reach the Karpas Peninsula in the North of the Island on Thursday.

Syria’s government said last Tuesday that there had been an accidental leak from a fuel tank at the Baniyas thermal power station, which is in a part of the war-torn country under its control.

The following day, Syria’s state-run Sana news agency reported that the slick had reached the town of Jableh, about 20km (12 miles) to the north.

The Cypriot fisheries and marine research department said the slick appeared to be “oil sheen” rather than crude oil, and that computer modelling and meteorological data suggested it would affect the cape within 24 hours.

The Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) Prime Minister, Ersan Saner, said the spill’s progress was being followed closely by his office and all relevant ministries and organisations in co-operation with Turkey.

“No-one should doubt that whatever is necessary will be done to prevent our country from being harmed by this spill,” Mr Saner added.

Turkey’s Vice-President, Fuat Oktay, told the Anadolu news agency it was “mobilising every means available that we have without giving any chance to the spill to turn into an environmental disaster”, and that it hoped to control the slick in the open sea before it reached the coast of Cyprus.

The Republic of Cyprus’s government said it was ready to provide help if requested.

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