Spain steps up oil cleanup efforts along coastline

MADRID, Spain -- Storms abated along the northwest coast of Spain, enabling ships on Monday to vacuum some of the oil that spilled from the tanker Prestige before it sank.

One anti-pollution ship, the French vessel Ailette, had already sucked more than 90,000 gallons from the sea since it began work Sunday, a government statement said. The oil was deposited at a refinery in the northwestern port of A Coruna.

The Ailette and two other ships were focusing on the main slick more than 60 miles off northwest Spain. Four more anti-pollution ships from Belgium, Britain, Germany and the Netherlands are set to join the cleanup effort this week.

Gale-force winds and rains have whipped through the region for the past two weeks, but the storms gradually diminished over the weekend.

The statement said some 900 workers and volunteers have shoveled up 1,470 tons of oil waste from 141 beaches affected since the Prestige nearly ran aground on Nov. 13.

The Bahamas-flagged Prestige was towed out to sea and sank after breaking in two last Tuesday, taking most of its 20 million gallons of fuel oil to the ocean floor.

The disaster has led to a precautionary ban on fishing over 300 miles of coastline, affecting some 7,000 workers.

Spain estimates 2.9 million gallons spilled from the tanker before it sank. Environmental groups claim it lost twice that.

Still leaking

Portuguese authorities insisted Monday that the Prestige was still leaking small amounts of fuel oil. Spain disputes the claim, saying its experts believe the oil inside the ship probably solidified on the cold Atlantic floor.

"In the area where the ship sank there are still some traces of pollution which suggests that, though the quantities are quite small, there is some small leakage," said Portuguese Navy official Augusto Ezequiel, spokesman for the country's crisis committee.

Based on observations from a Portuguese patrol plane that flew over the region where the tanker sank, Ezequiel said there was one main slick measuring nine miles by three miles some 70 miles west of Cape Finisterre in Spain.

Two smaller ones, measuring about 200 yards by 300 yards, were about 150 miles from land. He predicted the slicks would continue to head northeast over the next 48 hours.

Spanish fishery workers said small traces of oil had been spotted some 25 miles from the northern region of Asturias, indicating some of the slick had moved eastward around Spain's northwestern corner.

Madrid has been criticized by environmental groups such as Greenpeace or World Wildlife Fund for minimizing the extent of the disaster, the lack of coordination in the cleanup operations and being late to call for international help.

Spain has now asked France for a small submarine to examine the wreck for leaks.

It is also suing the ship's owner, the Liberia-registered Mare Shipping Inc., as well as its insurance company and the vessel's captain, who has been jailed.