Israeli officials expand probe into recent oil spill

TEL AVIV >> Israel on Sunday revealed new details of an ongoing investigation into an oil spill earlier this month that washed up roughly a thousand tons of tar on its shoreline and caused potentially irreversible ecological damage to the region’s marine wildlife and biodiversity.

On Saturday, officials from Israel’s Environmental Protection Ministry conducted a surprise inspection of one of the Greek tankers suspected in the oil spill, the Minerva Helen, while it was docked at Athens’ Piraeus port.

The next day, after an Israeli court-issued gag order on the names and details on the suspected ships was lifted, the ministry announced that the Minerva Helen was no longer considered a suspect.