Oil Spill Inspection
Under supervision of TRNC’s ministry of transport the team conducted an inspection of the oil spill that originated from Syria’s largest refinery.
It had been reported that around 15,000 tons of fuel had been leaking from a Syrian thermal power plant located at the coastal city of Baniyas.
Satellite imagery had indicated that the spill covered an area of around 800 square kilometers and was roughly 7km away from Cyprus waters.
The first stop was at a port at TatliSu where the team was briefed on the situation in a meeting that included TRNC Minister of Transport, members of the coast guard and marine experts.
Following that, the team was taken aboard ships that were sent out to clean the spill in order to further understand the issue.
The team was then taken to a couple locations off the coast of TRNC which the marine experts had expected the oil spills to reach.
ORCA was launched at these locations and a full inspection was carried out. The main objective of the mission was to examine whether or not the spill had reached Cyprus waters and if marine life would be affected in any way.
Various data and live video streams were collected at varying depths with guidance from the aforementioned marine experts and it was concluded that the spill had not in fact reached Cypriot coasts.