Oil Spill Could Be Spain's Worst for a Decade

Spain was bracing itself for an environmental disaster last night as a tanker carrying 77,000 tonnes of fuel began spilling oil while struggling to save itself from sinking off the north-west Atlantic coast.

The Bahamas-registered Prestige was listing heavily with waves sweeping across its decks at nightfall as it battled to stay afloat in fierce seas and gale-force winds, 28 miles west of Cape Finisterre.

Spanish maritime officials warned that the badly damaged tanker was in danger of sinking. That would produce the world's biggest oil spill for more than a decade.

Spanish radio reported that a five-mile slick had already formed around the stricken vessel, threatening local fishing and coastal areas.

Crew members from rescue helicopters confirmed seeing the Prestige spilling oil into the sea.

The vessel was being battered last night by force eight gales, gusting to force nine, and six-metre waves.

Air-sea rescue helicopters from the Spanish city of Vigo lifted 24 crewmen from the Japanese-built tanker, which had loaded its cargo in Latvia. The Greek captain and two other crew members stayed aboard.

The rescued crew members, from the Philippines and Romania, said the Prestige appeared to have hit something as it sailed towards Gibraltar, its destination, and had begun to take on water.

"We thought we were going to go down with the ship," one of the crew told a Spanish news agency.

At least three rescue tugs were trying to reach the tanker.

Spanish radio reported that the vessel would be towed further out to sea to prevent oil from reaching the coastline of Galicia, which is rich in fish farms, seafood and coastal fishing grounds.

Experts said the vessel's cargo of relatively dense fuel oil would be more difficult to break up than crude, though heavy seas could help speed the process up.

A local Greenpeace spokesman claimed that the fact that the Prestige was flying a Bahamas flag of convenience was a sign that "it lacked security".

In 1992, the Aegean Sea tanker grounded and burst into flames just outside the mouth of the Galician port of Coruna, spilling some 30,000 tonnes of its 79,000 tonne cargo of crude in what was a major disaster for a local economy that remains heavily dependent on the sea. That spill, which followed a similar disaster with the tanker Urquiola 16 years earlier, devastated 130 miles of coastline.