 |
|
An
emergency worker uses a special vacuum cleaner to clean oil off
the beach in Malpica, northern Spain
|
LONDON,
November 19 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) –
A U.K. newspaper slammed European countries for adopting a
"not-in-my-background" attitude and towing the stricken
Spanish oil tanker "prestige" south towards Africa.
"As
European countries demanded that the ageing tanker, described by
environmentalists as ‘a chemical time-bomb’, be taken away from
their coasts before it sank and released its deadly cargo of 70,000
tons of fuel oil, the Dutch salvage company in charge of the rescue
operation began towing it south," reported The Guardian.
The
Guardian quoted
Lars Walder, a spokesman for the company, Smit International, as
saying that they would keep the tanker heading south until it found
somewhere it could attempt a transfer of the cargo on to another
tanker.
The
paper said that Walder admitted that that may not happen until the
tanker got to Africa, "maybe near Cape Verde".
It
quoted Miguel Angel Valladares from the World Wide Fund For Nature, as
saying that it would be "shameful" and "completely
unacceptable" to do that.
"It
is a way of getting rid of our environmental problems by exporting
them to the developing world," said Valladares, according to The
Guardian.
He
also said that the if a transfer of the fuel to another vessel was not
possible, then it would be better to burn it and pollute the
atmosphere than to sink it and pollute the ocean floor, the paper
added.
"That
would ruin the seabed and keep sending pollution in towards the coast
for years. If it sinks to the bottom, it could still be the worst
environmental disaster we have ever seen," warned Valladares.
"The
best thing is obviously to take the fuel off, but, if not, it is
better to burn it and pollute the atmosphere than to sink it and
pollute the ocean floor."
"As
the Prestige headed towards Africa, experts recalled that, although
spills in Europe and the U.S. got most publicity, many of the worst
tanker disasters had occurred off Africa. Those included the world's
second biggest spill, when the Summer tanker went down with 260,000
tons of oil off Angola in 1991, and the 190,000 tons spilt by the
Castillo de Belver off South Africa in 1983," said The
Guardian.
Tuesday
morning, the tanker broke in two off northwestern Spain, spewing part
of its cargo into the sea off the ecologically sensitive coast, the
regional government said.
The
26-year-old Japanese-built tanker
was being towed by a Chinese tug when its single hull broke apart in
stormy seas between Cape Corrubedo and Cape Finistere.
The
42,000-tonne tanker – which
appears not to have been inspected since 1999 when the ports of
Rotterdam and New York both complained about security lapses – was
carrying 77,000 tons of fuel oil when it ran into trouble in a storm
Wednesday, November 12.
