SPAIN: PEOPLE BATTLE TO PREVENT STOP OIL SLICK FROM TANKER "PRESTIGE" COMING ASHORE

Record ID: 344878

  • Title: SPAIN: PEOPLE BATTLE TO PREVENT STOP OIL SLICK FROM TANKER "PRESTIGE" COMING ASHORE
  • Date: 21st November 2002
  • Summary: (W5) FINISTERRE, SPAIN (NOVEMBER 21, 2002) (REUTERS) 1. VARIOUS OF OIL POLLUTED SEA (2 SHOTS) 0.11 2. WIDE OF BEACH COVERED WITH NEW OIL SLICK THAT HAS ARRIVED OVERNIGHT 0.14 3. SLV FISHERMEN LOOKING AT POLLUTED BEACH 0.17 4. VARIOUS OF OIL SLICK COVERING ROCKS (2 SHOTS) 0.26 5. CLOSE OF OIL SLICK ON ROCKS AND SAND 0.30
  • Embargoed: 6th December 2002 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: FINISTERRE AND LA CORUNA, SPAIN
  • Country: Spain
  • Reuters ID: LVAB0FYRLHCUMFV2AJM4F87PJGE
  • Story Text: Spaniards battling to keep a wave of oil slicks at bay
    with little more than shovels faced a new enemy in high winds
    and driving rain as another mass of sludge from the sunken
    tanker washed ashore.



    Volunteer fishermen on Thursday (November 21, 2002) joined
    the painstaking cleanup of the toxic fuel oil that has already
    washed ashore from the Prestige, which snapped in two and sank
    130 nautical miles off the coast on Tuesday (November 19), six
    days after getting into difficulty in a storm.

    It could prove to be one of the worlds worst oil spills as
    the ship carried twice as much oil as the Exxon Valdez spilled
    when in ran aground in Alaska in 1989.

    Satellite pictures published on Thursday showed a trail of
    oil left by the stricken vessel as it was towed out to sea.

    She took most of her 77,000 tonnes of fuel oil to the ocean
    floor some 3.6 km (two miles) below but at least 10,000 tonnes
    is believed to have leaked into the Atlantic.

    The ecology of the region as well as the local economy
    have already been affected. Local fisherman Mario Dominguez
    said, "This is the total ruin of our coast because it's not
    only about all the black sludge we can see but also the acids
    and oils that leach into the sand. Here we have extensive
    seafood banks, clams, octopus and sea-thistle. We had huge
    amounts of sea-thistle this year and we've lost it completely.

    And probably it will not only be this year but for two, three
    or four more years."
    Leading Spanish newspaper El Pais said on Thursday there
    were not enough ships to suck up the oil lurking off the coast
    and that the government lacked enough plastic barriers used to
    protect sensitive areas of the scenic coast.

    And the weather was not co-operating. A cold front coming
    in off the Atlantic pushed a wave of oil slicks closer to the
    shore of Galicia in northwest Spain.

    One ship, the France-based 'AILETTE' has been removing oil
    from the sea but was forced to return to port. Her captain,
    Christian Nedelec said, "For the moment we have recovered 120
    cubic metres of fuel in several hours. Then the sea conditions
    deteriorated and we had a problem with our boom and we had to
    go back to La Coruna to repair it."
    The sinking of the Prestige has led to calls for
    speeding-up European Union laws to decommission single-hulled
    tankers and the tightening-up of inspections. Current EU
    president Denmark said it would put the issue on the Maritime
    Transport Council meeting on December 6.

    A Danish pilot who sailed aboard the tanker was quoted on
    Thursday as saying the Prestige was not seaworthy before it
    ran into trouble in an Atlantic storm about 21 miles off the
    Galician coast last week.

    French President Jacques Chirac has been one of the most
    vocal and visible critics, saying Europe failed to learn its
    lesson after the Maltese tanker 'Erika' split in two and sank
    of the northwest of France in December 1999. It was carrying
    25,000 tonnes of viscous fuel oil.


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