Black rivers of crude oil could be seen flowing across the desert sands in the eastern part of Israel Thursday morning and people on both sides of the border with neighboring Jordan were rushed to hospitals after inhaling toxic fumes from the massive spill that occurred after a major pipeline ruptured, possibly by a maintenace crew.

Some outlets are reporting this as potentially “the worst” environmental disaster in the nation’s history as millions of gallons have gushed from the broken pipeline directly into one of the nation’s prized nature reserves.

“Crude oil flowed throughout the reserve, causing serious damage … to flora and fauna,” Guy Samet, a spokesperson for Israel’s Environmental Protection Ministry, told local news outlets on Thursday. Samet estimated the amount of oil to be in the “millions of litres,” though complete and accurate estimates have not been verified by independent sources.

“Rehabilitation will take months, if not years,” Samet continued. “This is one of the State of Israel’s gravest pollution events. We are still having trouble gauging the full extent of the contamination.”

Haaretz reports:

The Times of Israel adds:

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