Hazardous material hits Israel’s coast

JERUSALEM, April 9 (JTA) — More than 400 bottles containing poisonous material washed up on Israel’s shores this week. Environment Ministry officials said they believe that the bottles fell off a boat that was transporting them and were blown toward Israel’s coast by recent storms. The white, liter-sized bottles were found along nearly all of Israel’s Mediterranean coast, from Rosh Hanikra in the north to Ashdod in the south. Laboratory tests indicated that the bottles contained an organic material used as a pesticide. Some of the bottles had broken open, spilling their contents into the Mediterranean. Environment Ministry officials said that accumulated seaweed and organisms found on the bottles indicated that they could have been in the Mediterranean for several weeks.