Bulgarian authorities warned people against using water from the Danube river on Tuesday after a large oil spill flowed downstream into its territory. The spill, 140 km (86 miles) long and between 100 and 150 metres wide, may have originated in Serbia, although Belgrade has not confirmed its source, said Kristian Kirilov, head of the civil defence office in the Danube port of Vidin. "We have warned people not to water their crops or animals and to stop fishing in the Danube," he told Reuters.

The environment ministry has asked for official inquiries from all member states of the Danube Convention -- Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Moldova, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia and Ukraine -- to identify the source of the spill. The Serbian Waterways Inspectorate told Reuters it was looking into the spill.

"We are aware of the reports and our inspectors and experts have gone to investigate the samples. We expect to have some results only later tonight," said Dusan Dobricic, head of the inspectorate. Kirilov said despite the bans on using the Danube water, no dead fish had been found and the population was not in danger. "The spill is slowly dissolving and its thickness near the banks is not significant, but it will keep on spreading until the source causing it is identified," he said.
(Planet Ark, 04/10/2006)