Spain Battles To Contain Oil Slicks

Spain battled to contain an oil spill Sunday from a stricken tanker as slicks washed up on beaches on the country's northwestern coast and trapped wildlife.

Patches of the slick had entered a sensitive 21 mile stretch between the rich shellfishing area of cape Finisterre and Malpica. But the bulk of the oil — some 77,000 tons (85,000 US tons) — remained aboard the Bahamas-registered Prestige, some 70 nautical miles off the Spanish coast in the Atlantic Ocean.

``We've increased the floating barriers to 11 miles, the skimmers are working and a French pollution-fighting ship is on its way to help us clean the spill. We are optimistic,'' said a spokesman of the Interior Ministry of A Coruna, some 372 miles northwest of Madrid.

The tanker's Greek captain, Apostolus Maguras, was jailed without bail Sunday evening after five hours of questioning by a judge in A Coruna, the Spanish news agency EFE reported. The charges were not immediately released.

Maguras had been evacuated on Friday along with other crew members.

Spanish maritime authorities claimed he failed to cooperate with rescue crews after issuing a call for help Wednesday evening. For hours as the Prestige drifted perilously close to shore, Maguras refused to let tugboats secure cables to his stricken ship, officials said.

A Netherlands-based international salvage company struggled to keep the 26-year-old Prestige intact in rough weather, while environmental groups warned of a potential ecological disaster if the tanker breaks up.

Several birds covered in oil were seen on the beaches of Muxia and Camarinas. Witnesses in the area said some parts of the sea were covered in a dark layer of fuel oil up to 15 inches thick on the rocky coastline known as the ``Coast of Death'' for its many shipwrecks.

Regional authorities banned fishing and shellfishing in the area.

Local residents expressed concern over the consequences the spill could have. But Arsenio Fernandez de Mesa, the Spanish government's senior representative in Galicia, said the government would compensate coastal residents affected by the slick. The area is famous for its shellfish, octopus and crabs.

``We've had accidents before but nothing like this. If many fish die, will they ever come back?'' asked 67-year-old Federico Martinez Vidal, a retired potato farmer and a recreational fisherman in the town of Camelle.

The government downplayed the environmental threat, but Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar suggested Spain could seek compensation for the spill, although he did not specify from where.

The fuel oil appears to be from a 3,000 metric ton (3,306 US tons) leak from the Prestige following an accident during a fierce storm Wednesday night that apparently cracked the right side of the tanker's hull.

The vessel is considered vulnerable because its 50 foot hull has no outer casing to provide extra protection against leakage.

Details on how the ship began to leak were still unknown, officials said.

Lars Walder of the SMIT salvage company said on Sunday in a telephone interview from Amsterdam that the 50 foot crack below the water line in the ship's hull had not widened and the Privilege was no longer leaking.

Walder said tug boats will attempt to turn the Prestige around so the damaged hull is protected from the waves, and then either repair the crack or transfer the oil to another ship.

It's unclear what might happen to the Prestige after that.

Spain doesn't want the damaged ship traveling near shore, entering any Spanish port and possibly endangering shipping or the environment. SMIT's priority, Walder said, is seeking a sheltered harbor where it could transfer fuel from the Prestige.

The tanker is owned by the Greek company Mare Shipping Incorporated.

Spain's northwest coast has suffered several tanker accidents in recent years, the worst being in Dec. 1992 when the Greek tanker Aegean Sea lost 21.5 million gallons of crude oil when it ran aground near A Coruna.