The 1976 built Prestige was carrying 77,000 tonnes of heavy fuel oil from Latvia to Singapore when it first sent a distress signal 28 miles off Cape Finisterre on 13 November. A 15m tear in the single hull appeared on the starboard side. Two empty ballast tanks flooded with seawater and oil began to leak from adjacent tanks. The vessel was encountering heavy seas at the time but crew members later reported that Prestige had struck a submerged object which caused severe juddering of the hull. Spanish authorities had issued a warning about 17m long logs lost from another vessel in the area only hours before Prestige radioed for assistance.

SMIT Salvage mobilised two tugs following the award of a LOF 2000 Scopic emergency assistance contract as an estimated 10,000 tonnes of spilled oil drifted towards the pristine beaches of Galicia. Prestige was towed to a holding position 60 miles off the Spanish coast before SMIT received further instructions from Spanish authorities to move the tanker at least 120 miles offshore.

SMIT also encountered a Portuguese warship which ordered a change of course to a more westerly direction which took the ever weakening Prestige into full beam seas. The vessel finally broke up and sank 140nm from shore in waters some two miles deep.

Pressure at that depth is likely to have split the vessel's ageing tanks but there was hope that cold temperatures would congeal the oil and keep it in situ.

These hopes were dashed nearly two weeks later when a new 11,000 tonne slick was seen moving towards hundreds of miles of already damaged Spanish coastline.

Seven specially equipped oil pollution control vessels sailed from other European countries, including the Sefton Supporter and Briggs Environmental Services' 'British Shield', which was due to take up station on 3 December and act as a storage and transfer vessel for recovered oil. Some 5,000 tonnes of oil from the second slick was collected before reaching shore but gale force winds then drove the oil pollution control vessels back into port on 1 December.

Oil spill response efforts were being coordinated by Spain's Sociedad de Salvamento y Seguridad (Sasemar).

In response to requests from Sasemar, Danish offshore boom and skimmer manufacturer Ro-Clean Desmi sent emergency teams with some 5,100m of oil containment boom.

Northern Ireland based Fast Engineering were caled upon to deploy 167 Fastanks to the area.

The portable oil spill containment system is well suited for use on rocky coastlines, where it is used in conjunction with booms and skimmers to collect pollutant from the sea and store it until it can be disposed of safely. The patented 10,000 litre tank has a packaged weight of just 64kg and can be quickly erected by one person on uneven ground.

MJ Information No: 17724