Spain’s Supreme Court decided that the captain and the insurer of the Prestige oil tanker must pay over 1.5 billion euros ($1.8 billion) in compensation for Spain’s biggest environmental disaster and one of Europe’s worst oil spills. The Prestige oil tanker had sank in 2002.
The court ruled that the captain and insurer of the ship must pay the damages to Spain, France and authorities in Spain’s Galicia region, as well as to 269 companies, communities and individuals that the spill impacted.
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Last year, in November 2017, the Spanish court ordered the regional government of Galicia, off whose coast the Prestige tanker sank, to be compensated 1.8 million euros and neighbouring France, which was affected as well, 61 million euros. Also, the court said the ship’s insurers to pay one billion dollars which is the maximum limit fixed by the company in its contract for the ship.
The 13rd of November marks 16 years after the Greek-owned and Bahamas-operated tanker ‘Prestige’ encountered heavy weather during a routine voyage and eventually sank off the coast of Spain, causing the worst environmental disaster in the country and one of the greatest oil spills in Europe.
Although there was no loss of life, the significance of the Prestige casualty is attributed to the magnitude of the resulted pollution of the Spanish and French coasts. The Prestige oil spill remains Spain’s and Portugal’s worst ecological disaster until today, causing significant damage to wildlife, environment, as well as the local fishing industry.
The immediate legal consequence of the disaster was the arrest of the captain, who was convicted of recklessness resulting in catastrophic environmental damage and was sentenced to two years in prison by Spain’s Supreme Court in January 2016.
The decision was condemned by the industry, while the precedent Galician Provincial Court judgment had found the Captain innocent as he had fulfilled his professional duty in attempting to save his ship.
