Israeli Vessel Did Not Cause Oil Spill

Testing shows that an Israeli cargo ship was not the source of the oil spill discovered last week in the West Basin of Los Angeles Harbor, a U.S. Coast Guard spokesman said Saturday.

“The ship is no longer considered a suspect,” said Coast Guard Lt. Cmdr. Jim Milbury.

Oil samples from the spill were compared to samples from fuel tanks aboard the Israeli container ship Zim California, which was docked in the harbor when the spill occurred. The results, received Friday, showed the samples did not match, Milbury said.

The ship’s agent, Zim Container, had hired Chempro Environmental Services of Long Beach to clean up the oil. Since the ship was not responsible, the Coast Guard will pay for the cleanup, which is continuing, Milbury said.

The cause of the spill, estimated at 4,200 gallons, was still unknown Saturday. The oil may have leaked from a pipeline somewhere in the harbor area, Milbury said.