Oil Spill Cleanup Completed in Jordan’s Gulf of Aqaba

Jordan’s Aqaba Special Economic Zone Authority said Monday that it had finished the operation in the Gulf of Aqaba, the branch of the Red Sea that is Jordan’s only marine outlet, and was now working on removing oil stains from the shoreline. Nidal Majali, the tourism and environment commissioner for the authority, said beach rehabilitation work started on Monday. The oil removal teams were not using chemicals, he added, in order to protect the area’s marine life. He also said legal measures were taken against the ship that caused the spill, and that affected parties would receive monetary compensation. The cleanup work and an investigation into the spill’s cause were launched on Aug. 14. The spill, covering around 700 square meters (about 7,500 square feet), was not considered large, but it polluted fragile coral reefs and damaged equipment of several diving centers, local media reported. The cleanup operation initially was expected to take “a few hours” according to a report by the state-run Petra news agency.