Stricken tanker sinks

A tanker laden with fuel oil broke in two off Spain and plunged to the bottom of the Atlantic yesterday, triggering what environmental activists said could become one of the world's worst oil spills.

"The Prestige has sunk," said Lars Walder, a spokesman for the Dutch salvage company Smit Salvage, confirming the bow had finally followed the stern section below the waves at 1515 GMT.

Originally carrying 77,000 tonnes of viscous fuel oil - the heavy residue left over from refining - the ship has loosed a massive slick since springing a leak in heavy seas on Wednesday.

That has already blackened the rugged coastline of Galicia in northwestern Spain, throwing 1,000 fishermen out of work and coating endangered sea birds with tar. Now, over 65,000 tonnes of oil remain precariously trapped in the sunken wreckage.

The environmental threat is being compared to the likes of the Exxon Valdez and Amoco Cadiz and has unleashed a political storm over why tankers like the 26-year-old Prestige, lacking a modern double hull, are still allowed to ply Europe's waters.

Environmentalists said their worst fears were realised when the ship broke apart yesterday morning while some 210 kilometres offshore in waters 3,600 metres deep.

The break-up spilt another 5,000 to 6,000 tonnes into the sea, joining 5,000 tonnes that had leaked out over six days.

The black tide continued to encroach on Spain and Portugal, threatening one of Europe's richest fisheries, a habitat for such gourmet delicacies as goose barnacles and lobster. Seafood and summer tourism are vital to the local economy.

A fleet of tugs, clean-up vessels and aircraft from around Europe buzzed the site of the sinking. But five-metre waves prevented them containing any oil on the surface.

The disaster provoked calls for speedy reforms of Europe's shipping laws and speculation about the impact of millions of gallons of fuel oil reaching the ocean floor, two miles deep.

"I am horrified by the inability of those in charge, politically, nationally and particularly at European level, to take action to stem the laxity which permits these ships fit only for the dustbin to carry on," French President Jacques Chirac told reporters on a visit near Paris.

"Now we must urgently take draconian measures, both severe and serious, even if they harm the interests of certain companies whose interests are not worth defending."

Single-hulled tankers are to be outlawed in Europe - but not for another 13 years to give shipowners time to make money.

Sailing under a Bahamas flag, the Liberian-owned Prestige was chartered by the Swiss-based Russian oil trader Crown Resources and operated by Athens-based Universe Maritime.

Experts said the ship's tanks might crack upon hitting the sea floor, implode from the pressure or eventually rust through. Others said the frigid ocean temperatures of the deep could help prevent disaster by solidifying the mass, slowing its breakup.

The depth of the sea and the bad weather would make it extremely difficult to pump the remaining oil from the tanks.

Battered by storms, the Prestige began leaking on Wednesday, and a day later tugs began towing it out to sea in hopes of protecting the coast. As it began breaking up, salvage crews yesterday had to abandon attempts to keep it afloat.

The tanker was carrying twice as much oil as the Exxon Valdez was when it ran aground in Alaska in 1989, causing a spill that devastated a stretch of pristine wilderness.

"If the oil tanker loses all its oil...if all that escapes from the hull, then this is a disaster which is going to have twice the effect of the Exxon Valdez, which is one of the worst that we have known," said Christopher Hails, the World Wildlife Fund International's programme director.

There have been much bigger spills - the Amoco Cadiz dumped 213,000 tonnes of crude off Brittany in 1978 and a year later a collision in the Caribbean released 314,000 tonnes of crude. But fuel oil is potentially more harmful than unrefined oil.

Hails and environmentalists from Greenpeace said as much oil as possible should be pumped out of the ship's tanks.

Universe Maritime, the ship's operator, complained it took 14 hours for the first tug to attach a line and criticised the arrest of the tanker's Greek captain and the setting of bail at a hefty three million euros ($3 million).

In a bid to help Galicia's stricken fisheries industry, the Spanish government announced a campaign to encourage consumers.

"To minimise the effect this accident could have on the consumption of Galician seafood products, the ministry will launch a campaign to encourage the consumption of these products," Deputy Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy told reporters at Caion, one of the areas worst affected by the slick.