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Oil slick from Belarus threatens Latvia
AFP
RIGA
Petroleumworld.com 03 28 07Emergency services set up oil slick booms on the Daugava River near the Latvian city of Daugavpils Tuesday as a huge oil slick flowed in from Belarus.
Belarus first raised the alert on Saturday as diesel fuel spilled into the Belarussian part of the river -- the Western Dvina -- from an oil pipeline owned by Russian company Zapad Transnefteprodukt.
Latvia said however that Belarus had under-reported the extent of the pollution.
"The oil is still flowing and we cant predict when it will stop. Its an unpleasant situation," the head of Latvia's State Environment Service, Vilis Avotins, told AFP.
Belarussian authorities had originally said the slick stretched around eight kilometers (five miles) along the river, and was under control, but on Tuesday, Avotins said 100 kilometers (60 miles) of river in Latvia had been affected.
River conditions were hampering efforts to contain the pollution. "The river is so strong that the booms are being pulled under the water," Avotins commented.
Avotins said the slick could come to within 120 kilometers (72 miles) of Riga, which sits on the Daugava River, 250 kilometers from the border with Belarus.
AFP 27 1720 GMT 03 07
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