The Ministry of the Environment ordered the quick clean up of a 20-kilometer-long oil spill in the Gulf of Suez. The oil spill resulted when a Qatari ship transporting hazardous material dumped oily waste into the gulf. Minister of the Environment Maged George said that an aircraft pilot from the Petroleum Air Services (PAS) in Raas Shouqeir had recorded the information written on the side of the ship after he spotted it discharging waste into the water. The ship, which operates under the flag of the Bahamas, turned out to be owned by a Qatari company called RasGs. Built in 2005 and carrying a weight of 78,794 tons, it was heading from Qatar to the Mediterranean Sea. Boats from the Gulf of Suez Petroleum Company helped the Ministry of the Environment to clean up the oil spill. Meanwhile, the Ministry of the Environment, military forces, and PAS coordinated their efforts to comb the Suez Gulf area for traces of the spill. The region was found to be clean. George said that procedures were being undertaken to implement provisional detention of ships owned by RasGas and its partners upon their arrival in Egyptian harbors or their passage through the Suez Canal, to preserve Egypt's right to compensation for the environmental damage. Meanwhile, a Chinese tanker which had become stranded in the Strait of Tiran paid LE26 million in compensation for damage to the environment which it caused when it reportedly destroyed 2000 meters of coral reefs. Translated from the Arabic Edition.
