The Greek authorities on Tuesday said that clean-up crews and the coast guard airplanes were on standby in case a massive oil slick from Lebanon -- where an Israeli air strike damaged fuel depots and released 150,000 tons of crude oil into the sea -- should approach Greek shores.

According to the oil slick monitoring program Med Slick 4 Point One on Cyprus, the huge oil slick formed was floating three to four nautical miles (five to 6.5 kilometers) from the Lebanese shore, was very close to the coast of Syria and was expected to reach the Turkish coast, while it was moving very fast due to rough Lebanese seas.

The Greek merchant marine ministry has mobilized services in the southeast Aegean and Crete to deal with any possible pollution reaching Greek waters and to patrol waters for any sign of such pollution.

Greece will also use the oil-slick monitoring satellite ROSES, which will pass over the Aegean on August 2, 5, 7 and 8 and is in contact with foreign services to track the course of the slick.

Source: Xinhua