Cyprus prepares for Mediterranean oil spill from Syrian power plant

Officials in Turkish-occupied northern Cyprus say 20,000 tonnes of oil is approaching its coastline

Turkish Cypriot authorities have taken emergency action to stop an oil slick blamed on a faulty power plant in Syria from wreaking environmental havoc along some of the island's finest unspoilt coastline.

Officials in the war-partitioned country's breakaway north erected what local media described as a 400 metre barrier off the Karpas peninsula to prevent the slick reaching its pristine shores.