The captain of the Prestige oil tanker, which sank off the coast of Galicia causing the biggest environmental disaster in Spain, has blamed Spanish authorities for the tragedy. Apostolos Mangouras’s testimony last week was part the ongoing trial against him and three other individuals over the sinking of the Prestige in November 2002 when thousands of tons of fuel spilt into the sea and onto 1,600 kilometres of coasts in northern Spain and southern France.
The Spanish authorities decided that the vessel carrying 77,000 tons of oil should not enter any port after the captain raised an emergency. Instead, it was towed out to sea where it eventually split in two and sank. The Greek captain, now 77 years old, broke down as he gave his evidence in court.
He claimed that the Spanish authorities treated him like a criminal and denied failing to cooperate with them. He said Spain sent the tanker out into the Atlantic where a storm was brewing, and described the decision as “the worst alternative”. He added, “They sent us in a floating coffin … to drown.”
Prosecutors have charged the captain with criminal damage to the environment and to a protected nature reserve, and have called for a jail term of 12 years, plus over four billion euros in damages. He spent 83 days in a Spanish jail after the Prestige went down.
Earlier he told the court that he had noticed some rust in the vessel’s storage tanks when he took command of her in September 2002, but added he had seen no breakage. Asked by the prosecutor why he had signed a report two weeks before the disaster stating there were no defects in the tanks, he said he was not qualified to determine the level of corrosion and did not participate in the inspection. He also said he had been unaware that the Prestige had already been banned from a dozen ports around the world.
Source: Maritime – Connector