10 MAY: Mould and bacteria has been found in tainted jet fuel that forced authorities to halt to all departures from Israel’s Ben Gurion airport last week, the Haaretz newspaper reported on yesterday.
The contamination occurred on Thursday when plane filters began clogging abnormally, leading to the discovery by authorities that aviation fuel being loaded into planes at the airport was tainted.
Virtually all departures were cancelled for 24 hours from Ben Gurion, Israel’s only international airport, and an emergency investigation was ordered amid fears that fuel supplies may have been targeted by terrorists.
Flight delays were still being experienced yesterday, Haaretz said.
Initial analysis showed the fuel contained bacteria and mould, but further scrutiny was needed to determine the exact nature of the contamination, and a committee has been formed to investigate how the fuel came to be compromised.
The newspaper said Israel’s Airport Authority has demanded to know why the company which supplied the fuel allegedly failed to detect or declare the contamination.
Airport officials ruled out deliberate sabotage and said they suspected the source of the contamination was not in the tanks but in the pumps that deliver fuel to aircraft.
