Dozens of workers on Thursday struggled to contain the pollution caused
by an oil spill along the coastline of northeast
Cyprus
,
officials said.
The spill occurred when around 100 metric tons of fuel leaked into the sea when
a tanker was unloading at a power plant on Tuesday in the town of
Gastrias
(known in Turkish as Kalecik).
Mehmet Harmanci, tourism, environment and culture chief of the self-declared
Turkish
Republic
of
Northern
Cyprus
, said
a ship from
Turkey
equipped with pollution control equipment was helping the clean-up.
Witnesses reported seeing oil slicks along a stretch of up to five kilometers
of coast along the south of the Karpas peninsula, popularly known as the
divided island's panhandle.
An official statement called the spill an "environmental disaster" in
which 100 metric tons of fuel were released into the sea in just 15 minutes.
As clean-up operations progressed, it said the necessary precautions would be
taken to prevent such accidents in the future.
The eastern Mediterranean island has been divided since 1974, when Turkish
forces invaded following a coup by Greek Cypriots seeking union with
Greece
.
Only
Ankara gives official recognition to the TRNC.