FRANCE: LARGE QUANTITIES OF OIL BELIEVED TO BE FROM SUNKEN TANKER ERIKA WASHES UP ON COAST NEAR SOUTHERN TIP OF BRITTTANY

Record ID: 344737

  • Title: FRANCE: LARGE QUANTITIES OF OIL BELIEVED TO BE FROM SUNKEN TANKER ERIKA WASHES UP ON COAST NEAR SOUTHERN TIP OF BRITTTANY
  • Date: 25th December 1999
  • Summary: PLOEMEUR, FRANCE (DECEMBER 25, 1999) (REUTERS) 1. VARIOUS OF BEACHES COVERED IN OIL (2 SHOTS) 0.05 2. CU/SCU BIRD COVERED IN OIL (2 SHOTS) 0.12 3. VARIOUS BEACHES COVERED IN OIL (4 SHOTS) 0.37 4. WIDE OF BEACH 0.41 5. SCU (SOUNDBITE) (French) LOCAL RESIDENT SAYING: "I've never seen anything like this. Ships have dumped their extra fuel from time to time, but nothing like this." 0.54 6. LV WAVES CRASHING ONTO ROCKS 0.57 7. VARIOUS LOCAL WORKERS AND VOLUNTEERS SCOOPING OIL OFF BEACH (6 SHOTS) 1.17 8. SCU (SOUNDBITE) (French) MUNCIPAL EMERGENCY WORKER JOSEPH LANDAIS SAYING: "For the moment we're using our own limited means. We're lucky that some volunteers have come. This morning we called in all of our colleagues who were available and have relied on people's good will. But it's not enough. With the people we have we've only been able to clean all small part of beach this morning. In a few hours, the tide will rise and we won't be able to do anything. We need reinforcements or we won't get anywhere." 1.48 9. VARIOUS WORKERS SHOVELLING OIL (7 SHOTS) 2.21 10. PAN UP (SOUNDBITE) (French) VOLUNTEER DYANI BORLA SAYING "It's like chewing gum. You pick up a little bit of it and it's really hard to get it unstick from your hands. We'll never get it all. It'll take too much time. We don't have enough equipment. But we're doing what we can. It's not easy." 2.53 11. SV/LV WORKERS CLEANING BEACH (2 SHOTS) 3.02 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 9th January 2000 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: PLOEMEUR, FRANCE
  • Country: France
  • Reuters ID: LVA7ZBHSGHF0Z7KBN2EM60GSEA01
  • Story Text: Large quantities thick and sticky oil, believed to
    come from the sunken tanker Erika, have been washed ashore
    along France's Atlantic coast.There are fears of an
    environmental disaster with hundreds of birds already killed.

    Three separate areas have been hit by the oil slick:
    the Finistere region, near the southern tip of Brittany,
    affecting a 65-km (40-mile) stretch of coast; south of
    Ploemeur, near the major port of Lorient; and the island of
    Belle-Ile, where the rocks and coves are said to be devastated
    by the oil.Even the railing along the boardwalk was covered
    in it.

    Rescue workers are finding birds completely caked in oil.

    Hundreds have been washed up by the tides.

    Officials had predicted the main spill, pushed by
    gale-force winds, would first hit Belle-Ile island.

    The Maltese-registered tanker Erika broke up in stormy seas on
    December 12 while carrying 25,000 tonnes of viscous fuel oil.

    About 8,000 tonnes are believed to have escaped from the tanker's
    holds with the rest trapped inside for the time being.

    Oil giant TotalFina, which chartered the vessel, pledged
    to clean up the mess and said the oil trapped in the sunken
    vessel should be pumped out.But the company says it's not
    responsible for the spill.

    Authorities along hundreds of kilometres of Atlantic coast
    have taken emergency measures to fight what could be an
    environmental disaster hitting fishing, oyster farming and
    tourism.

    Hundreds of birds dripping in oil, many of them dead, have
    already been brought in by tides.


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