The stricken oil tanker Prestigesnapped in two because it was forced to turn around too quickly by a Portuguese frigate, a German news magazine said today, but the Portuguese Defence Ministry denied the report.
Citing captains of the rescue ships, Sternmagazine said the frigate Joao Coutinhorefused the Prestige entry into Portuguese waters and made it turn around, forcing it between two huge waves which caused the tanker to break up.
The 26-year-old, single-hulled tanker was holed in a violent storm off Spain's northwestern coast, and left a trail of fuel while it was towed out to sea before it snapped in two and sank in deep Atlantic waters nine days ago.
"It's not true to say the Portuguese navy caused the problems. The ship was already in trouble, otherwise it wouldn't have needed tugs," a Defence Ministry spokesman told reporters.
"There was no abrupt order to turn around. Even before the boat began to move, it was warned several times verbally that it could not enter Portuguese waters."
The spokesman said that despite these warnings, the Prestige moved southwards and the frigate issued a third warning by fax that the ship had no authority to enter Portuguese waters.
"The main responsibility for the ship's poor condition lies with the shipowner," he said.
A Dutch recovery team hired to salvage the vessel wanted to bring it nearer shore to attempt to transfer its more than 70,000 tonnes of fuel oil to another tanker, but both the Spanish and Portugese governments refused to allow it into port.