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Israel's bombing of a power plant on Beirut's southern outskirts has spawned an environmental disaster, sending thousands of tons of heavy fuel oil into the Mediterranean and spreading dangerous fumes into the air, government officials say.Israeli forces hit the Jiyye power plant two weeks ago, setting its storage fuel tanks ablaze and cutting electricity to many areas in the capital and south Lebanon. One of the tanks exploded and fell into the Mediterranean a week ago, and another one was still burning yesterday.

The officials say Lebanon does not have enough of the foam that is used to extinguish oil fires, as most of it has been used to put out the blaze at the Beirut airport and oil stations, which also have been hit in Israeli strikes.

Fears were rising about health problems from the spill and from air pollution.

``The dark cloud that you see over Beirut and the sea carries particulate matters that enter the respiratory system and cause different types of respiratory problems," Berge Hadjian, director general of the Environment Ministry, said in an interview. ``The most vulnerable are children, pregnant women, the elderly, and those who have respiratory diseases like asthma."[...]

Samih Wehbe, an oil expert in the Environment Ministry, voiced more alarming worries. ``It is a catastrophe; it is something unbelievable," he said. ``The pollution of the air could reach Europe."

The tank spilled at least 10,000 tons of fuel oil into the sea. Hadjian said it was possible that winds could also carry the oil to Turkey and Syria.

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