Spanish coast braces for new oil slick

Salvage teams are still clearing up previous slicks

A huge new oil slick from a sunken tanker is nearing the Spanish coast, threatening wildlife and the region's fishing industry.

Fierce winds off north-west Spain have pushed about 9,000 tons of heavy fuel to within 12 kilometres (seven miles) of the coast of the province of Galicia, which relies heavily on the sea for its income.

Galicians wait for the slick to make landfall

The province has spent the past two weeks cleaning up its coast after a 6,000-ton slick came ashore from the Prestige tanker, which sank on 19 November.

Galicia braced for the new slick as a tanker similar to the Prestige left Estonia despite attempts by the environmental organisation Greenpeace to stop it going to sea.

The 26-year-old, single-hulled Prestige was damaged in a heavy storm on 13 November and sank six days later while being towed out to sea.

Source unknown

Galicia's fisheries chief Enrique Lopez Veiga said he thought the tanker was still spilling oil, although the central government maintains that any continuing leaks were the ship's own fuel or lubricant rather than its cargo.

Richard Tatner, operations manager of Oil Spill Response, told the BBC he believed the slick was oil that had escaped before the tanker sank. He said there was no indication the sunken vessel was continuing to leak.

Everything is really working against us

Enrique Lopez Veiga
Galician fisheries chief

He said an "armada of vessels" had been working with aerial support for two days to collect as much oil as possible, but added that "severe weather conditions" were making the work difficult.

"The slick is close," Mr Lopez told local radio. "Everything is really working against us: the winds, the currents, the course it is taking towards the coast."

However, it is not clear how the slick will behave on reaching the continental shelf just offshore where currents are unpredictable.

Seven suction ships have so far collected 2,314 metric tons of fuel oil at sea, while another 2,000 metric tons have been scraped off Galician beaches.

A French submarine is expected to arrive at the wreck on Sunday to check for further leakage.

Widespread damage

The previous slick fouled more than 100 beaches and forced a fishing ban along 400 km of coastline.

The BBC's Claire Marshall said the spill was having a devastating effect on the region's economy, especially in the run-up to Christmas when seafood is popular.

Meanwhile, the Spanish Green Party has asked the country's chief prosecutor to assign criminal responsibility for the disaster.

Greenpeace tried to keep the Byzantio in port

The Greens say the government is at fault for tugging the tanker out to sea rather than bringing the Prestige to port where the oil could have been unloaded.

The government says it was motivated by fears that the tanker would break up nearer the shore causing worse damage.

As crisis loomed in Galicia, another ageing tanker, the Byzantio, left the Estonian port of Muuga.

Twelve Greenpeace activists, who arrived in rubber dinghies on Friday morning, had been blocking it in the harbour.

The 26-year-old Byzantio is carrying 53,000 metric tons of the same oil as is on board the Prestige.

Estonia declared the Byzantio seaworthy on Thursday after France requested an examination.

The Byzantio is thought to be bound for Rotterdam in the Netherlands, and may later sail past the French coast.