Fuel from Prestige reappears nine months after tanker went down
Beaches across northern parts of Spain are once again being polluted by oil from the wreck of the Prestige oil tanker, which sunk in the Bay of Biscay last November.
According to a report in this morning’s Guardian newspaper, all of Spain’s north Atlantic beaches will today have their Blue Flag rating removed following “the arrival of clods of hardened fuel on beaches across the coast” – and the rating will not be restored until there is a “prolonged absence” of the oil.
As reported by News From Abroad, the Prestige sunk about 130 miles off the northern Spain coast, carrying around 60,000 tonnes of fuel oil. Hopes that the oil would freeze once the boat had sunk proved unfounded, and leaks were reported for several weeks afterwards.
Despite efforts to seal the sunken craft to prevent more leaks, it now appears that either the strategy failed, or that some oil has been floating around the Bay of Biscay until its recent appearance on the beaches of Spain.
