Serbia has rejected Romania’s demand for compensations following a major oil spill on river Danube earlier this week, according to Bulgarian news website Novinite.com. It quotes Serbia’s Investments minister who said it is not yet time for talks on compensations because the source of the spill is not yet clearly known.
The announcement comes as both Romania and Bulgaria announced they would demand compensations from Serbia over a kilometers-long flow of oil down the Danube, starting Tuesday night.
Serbian minister Velimir Ilici was quoted as saying that while it was true the spill reached Romania from Serbia, the exact source of the pollution must first be identified. „Danube crosses a large number of countries. The source of pollution is still unclear”, he said.
Serbia’s Agriculture, Forestry and Waters Ministry had previously admitted that the oil leaked from a fissured pipeline at a facility belonging to the Prahovo oil company.
