JERUSALEM, Dec. 8 (Xinhua) -- An Israeli pipeline company, whose pipeline was breached last week, admitted that the oil spill was at least three times larger than previously reported, the Environmental Protection Ministry said on Monday.
A ministry statement said new figures by the Eilat-Ashkelon Pipeline Company (EAPC) showed that the actual amount of oil that escaped the pipeline was about five million liters.
"The company initially reported a leak of between one million and 1.5 million liters," the ministry said, adding that "the ministry was skeptical about the (original) figures provided by EAPC from the start."
According to the Israeli daily Ha'aretz, the new figures increase the suspicion that the breach was not halted immediately after the leak was discovered, significantly increasing the extent of the spill.
Also on Monday, State Comptroller Yosef Shapira announced that his office has launched an investigation into the spill.
AEPC said that by Sunday, two million liters of crude oil had been siphoned from the desert and 13,000 tons of polluted soil removed.
As a rainy system approaches Israel, dams were built to prevent contamination from reaching Eilat, a southern Israeli resort, and Jordan's Gulf of Aqaba in event of flood, the ministry said.
On Thursday night, crude oil spilled out into of the nature desert reserve of Evrona some 20 km north of Eilat, causing "one of the worst pollution events in Israel's history," according to an official with the Environmental Protection Ministry.
Evrona is home to endemic fauna and flora, including a large dear population and rare plant life.
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