Prestige oil spill
P1
IMO no. 7372141
The Prestige was an oil tanker which sank in November 2002 in the Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of Spain. It caused one of the biggest oil spills in European seafaring ( especially Spanish and French ) coasts.
History
The ship was built in Japan in 1976 in the then usual single-walled hull shape (no double hull ship). It measured 42,820 gross tons, was 243 m long and had a capacity of 81 589 t. The American Bureau of Shipping was responsible for the classification of the vessel and found it seaworthy. The Prestige should have been allegedly taken out of service in 2005 as planned.
On 13 November 2002, the Prestige was loaded with 77,000 tonnes of heavy oil on the way from Latvia to Singapore when she wrecked in a storm off the coast of Spain. Due to a water leak broke into two located on starboard ballast tank, after which the vessel was 24 ° flip side. To prevent capsizing, two portside ballast tanks were flooded. This keeps the load increased to the hull and a break threatened. From a 35-meter long crack ran out of oil. Spanish authorities refused to ship the right to return to port. They believed (wrongly, as soon became apparent soon ), to minimize the impact on the Spanish coastline so. In fact, a contaminated harbor would have been by far the lesser of two evils; the escaping oil would have to absorb better there or let drain. Instead, the Prestige was towed out to sea.
On November 19, the fuselage broke up eventually and the ship sank. The crew was previously saved. A total of 64,000 tonnes of heavy oil from dirty and ran 2900 km of the French and Spanish coasts, particularly on the Costa da Morte; 250,000 seabirds died.
The wreck lies 166 nautical miles off the Spanish coast at a depth of 3,600 m. In the two years after the sinking of most leaks have been sealed by underwater robots. The remaining in the wreck of 13,000 tonnes of oil were pumped out and replaced by a micro- bacteria- containing solution, which accelerates the decomposition of oil residue. The 100 -million-euro campaign was successfully completed on 12 September 2004.
The Spanish government has sued the classification society American Bureau of Shipping (ABS ) to a compensation in the amount of one billion U.S. dollars (about 756 million euros ). Before a U.S. court, however, reports were submitted, according to which a monster wave was the probable cause of the accident.
On October 16, 2012 began with a court in La Coruña, the trial of three crew members of the Prestige (captain, engineer, first officer ). The captain and the engineer are Greeks, the first officer is Philippino and on the run. Was indicted Likewise, the then chief of the Spanish Port Authority, José Luis López Sors.
The method in which 133 witnesses and 98 experts were heard, ended in July 2013. The verdict was announced on 13 November 2013. Although the defendants, who were all over 70 years old, because of their age no threatened imprisonment, it was expected a conviction, which would have facilitated an assertion of liability claims against the shipping company and their insurance. The damage of the disaster (estimated by the prosecution to a total of 4.3 billion euros ) had been paid to a large part of the Spanish state. The prosecutor demanded high prison sentences of between five and twelve years. The court acquitted all the accused free from the accusation of having committed offenses against the environment. Only the captain was sentenced to nine months imprisonment for " disobedience " because he initially refused the request of the authorities to move the ship on the open sea.
Ten years after the accident, the nature is said to have fully recovered off the Galician coast. No genetic damage could be identified in plants and animals.