Greek authorities have declared beaches on the Saronic Gulf pollution free following the oil spill of Greek owned tanker Agia Zoni II which sank there in September 2017.
The oil spill affected the shores of southern and western Attica for dozens of kilometres with swimming banned for weeks as authorities battled to clean up and deal with the marine disaster.
“There is no problem with the Saronic Gulf, in regards to pollution levels from oil. People can swim where they swam before the tanker "Agia Zoni II" sank” said
Ioannis Hatzianestis, senior researcher at the Hellenic Centre for Marine Research (HCMR) told radio station Praktoreio 104.9 FM.
We have sent a report with the results to the ministries and presented findings to parliament's environment committee on April 27, he said.
"We started tests right after the accident on September 18 and our work was completed at the end of March. We examined the sea water, sediments and the general ecological quality of the Saronic Gulf, along with the marine organisms. In regards to the sea water, which is of interest to most people who want to go swimming, the levels of hydrocarbons were normal as of December."
Hatzianestis added that the problems that initially existed in the first few months after the accident, in Glyfada, Aghio Kosmas and Salamina, ceased to exist as of December onwards.