Highly toxic heavy oil residues repeatedly end up in the sea during illegal tank cleaning on the high seas. The perpetrators are rarely caught.
Paris (AP) – A huge oil spill off the coast of the holiday island of Corsica is worrying the authorities. On Sunday morning, the prefecture gave the cautious all-clear for the island.
The pollution is moving away from the coast, said the spokeswoman for the responsible prefecture, Christine Ribbe, the broadcaster Franceinfo. The approximately 35 kilometers long oil spill was discovered on Friday off the east coast of Corsica. “Our teams were able to recover three to four tons of oil yesterday and will continue to work today,” said Ribbe on Sunday. However, the carpet is now very fragmented, there is a lot of small, scattered oil spills. Initially, nothing was known about the extent of the damage to nature and the environment.
Authorities suspect that a ship’s tank was illegally emptied. One will find out who these “sea villains” are, said the Minister for the Seas, Annick Girardin. Environment Minister Barbarin Pompili said three possible boats have been identified.
On Saturday, the oil spill was only a few kilometers from the coast of Corsica, said Ribbe. Thanks to current developments, however, one is now confident that the carpet is moving towards the open sea. As a precaution, the prefecture had banned access to some beaches around the municipality of Aléria.
© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210613-99-973464 / 2
Franceinfo report
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