SPAIN: Salvage experts lost their desperate battle to keep the tanker Prestige afloat yesterday when she broke into two, 140 miles off the coast of north west Spain.
The stern sank almost immediately, adding 5,000 tonnes of heavy fuel oil to the 4,000 tonnes already spilled from the fractured hull. The prow finally succumbed to the heavy waves later in the day and plunged the 3,500 metres to the seabed where it is feared the pressure will burst the remaining tanks.
The hull of the Bahamian registered Prestige, carrying 77,000 tonnes of heavily polluting fuel oil, lost power and began to leak from its bow tanks in heavy seas off the Galician coast last Wednesday. The vessel is more than 25 years old and only had a single hull ship instead of the safer double hull which is now compulsory in all new tankers.
Most of the crew were airlifted to safety last Wednesday, but the Greek captain and two other members of his crew remained on board until Friday, when they too were taken off by coast guards. Capt Apostoulos Maguras was detained by Civil Guards as soon as he landed and he is being held in a jail in Coruña on environmental offences and for failure to co-operate adequately with Coast Guards.
Within hours of the accident, a 14-mile oil slick had begun to drift towards the shore in an area of valuable offshore fishing grounds and shellfish beds. A fleet of tugs managed to tow the Prestige 140 miles out to sea to an area between Spanish and Portuguese waters where it finally broke up yesterday.
The damage was already critical and by yesterday more than 200 kms of coastline were heavily contaminated, the fishermen confined to port and all fishing banned. Tides brought in more oil which coats sandy beaches, cliffs and rocks with a foul smelling oil. Driving rain and gale force winds hampered the clean-up operation. Frantic efforts have been taking place to harvest crops of mussels and oysters before the oil slick reaches the Rias Bajas in southern Galicia.
Some 600 people have been working round the clock to clean up the shore line. They have set up inflatable and floating barriers to try to contain the oil and try to prevent it coming ashore. Thousands of kilos of turbot were destroyed at one fish farm near Coruña, and in a second nearby farm the workers removed more than 300 kg of oil as it reached their breeding beds. In addition to the turbot, sea bass and sea bream farms, the area is particularly rich in percebes (goose barnacles), a highly prized and very expensive delicacy in Spain, as well as cockles, mussels, crab and prawns.
The accident has come as the Galicians were building up to their busiest season of the year when shellfish forms an important part of every Spaniard's Christmas table and prices rise. An estimated 4,500 families depend on the fishing industry for their livelihood, and the government yesterday announced emergency plans for them to receive an interim payment of €30 a day and boat owners will receive an additional €21 a day and €4.75 per tonne until subsidies and other grants have been approved.
The area around Cape Finisterre is known locally as Costa do Morte - Death Coast - as a reminder of the hundreds of seafarers who have lost their lives there over the centuries. There have been two other major tanker disasters in the same waters of the Bay of Coruña over the past 26 years. In 1976, the Urkiola spilled 50,000 metric tonnes of oil, and 10 years ago the tanker Aegean Sea lost most of its 80,000 metric tonnes. Both caused tremendous environmental damage, and ecologists say that some species have never returned to the area since the disasters.
The accident has caused friction between London and Madrid after the Spanish government announced that the Prestige was sailing from Latvia to Gibraltar. Madrid blames London for failing to ensure that the vessel was in seaworthy condition when it docked in Gibraltar in the past. Mr Peter Torry, the British Ambassador to Madrid, denied it was sailing for Gibraltar and was merely due to sail through the Straits of Gibraltar en route to Singapore.
Britain is one of the few countries who have not answered the calls for help in the clean-up operations. Ten European governments have offered to send in reinforcements. French, German and Dutch special boats are already on the scene and others are standing by. London's reaction was lukewarm. They claim it has no boats available, but has offered to send in experts if required.
The heavy fuel oil carried on the Prestige is considered particularly contaminating. It is the type of oil used by power stations and forms a heavy glue-like substance, known as "chocolate mousse" or "mayonnaise" on the surface of the waves before it eventually sinks to the seabed destroying all fish and fauna in the area.
Mr Enrique Lopez Veiga, the fisheries counsellor for the Galician government, said yesterday it is still too soon to calculate the losses, but confirmed that they would run to millions of euros.