Probe Set for Abu Rodeis Fire

A commission of inquiry has been appointed by the Air Force to determine the circumstances that led to a fire now raging for 12 days in the offshore Abu Rodeis oil wells in the Sinai peninsula. The commission was ordered after the disclosure that the fire was caused when an Israeli “Hawk” ground-to-air missile accidentally hit an oil rig. The missile had been aimed at an Egyptian plane flying over the Gulf of Suez but, instead, homed in at the oil rig. Damage to equipment is estimated at $6 million, and some 20,000 barrels of oil have been going up in flames daily. The off shore wells supply about 17 percent of the productive capacity of the oil field which produces exclusively for Israel.

The Abu Rodeis field, jointly owned by Egypt and ENI, the italian oil firm, began operating under the Israelis soon after the Sinai peninsula was captured during the Six-Day War. Israeli authorities at first refused to disclose the mishap of the misguided missile but confirmed the details of the accident after it was broken by NBC in the United States. The commission of inquiry is going about its work but has not yet issued any report.

At the same time, the commission of inquiry set up in mid-November to study the events leading up to the Yom Kippur War and the first stage of fighting has been meeting twice a day, five days a week. The scope of the inquiry covers the decision taken by political and military authorities in the crucial days and hours before the war. The commission’s proceedings are secret, but the findings and recommendations are to be published at the end of the deliberations, but only those aspects which the commission itself deem proper.