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CNN Live At Daybreak

Oil Tanker Splits in Two Off Spanish Coast

Aired November 19, 2002 - 05:05   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: And now to that breaking news we were telling you about, that oil tanker that split in two off the Spanish coast.
We do have Al Goodman live on the phone right now -- Al, are you there?

AL GOODMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Carol, good morning.

We can tell you, we can confirm via the salvage company that's been working on this ship that there has occurred a split. Now, we don't know the extent of the new damage. But to give you an idea of how bad this is looking, let's just tell you what the situation was before the split occurred this day. There was already an estimated 90 million euros in damage, or $90 million, that is, in damage to Spain's lucrative fishing industry from the spill that had already occurred from this Prestige tanker. That's the name of the tanker. It's a Bahamian, flagged in the Bahamas Islands.

It has been spilling oil since last Wednesday and the damage already was significant to the fishing industry. Even before this latest break. The slick that had begun to form was estimated to be about 70 miles long by five miles wide, not a continuous slick, but roughly covering that distance.

Now, we unfortunately can expect that slick to get worse. The Spanish and Portuguese governments had declined to allow this ship to be towed into either port of either country because they didn't want the ecological disaster to happen closer to the coastline. But now their worst fears are being confirmed. There have been special tugboats, Carol, working with that ship 150 miles off the coast of Spain, trying to keep it afloat and trying to buffet it from the seas.

But apparently those efforts have failed and we will, in the coming hours, try to get you some updated estimates on the damage -- Carol.

COSTELLO: It just brings to mind the disaster with the Exxon Valdez, doesn't it?

Do we know how the ship was damaged in the first place?

GOODMAN: We do not have a clear estimate on what happened in the first place, although it did occur in high seas, high winds and very choppy seas, big waves. There were some crew members who said they thought that the ship had struck something last Wednesday, but they couldn't see it with their own eyes because of the inclement conditions, the bad weather. But we don't have a definitive what happened to the ship to start the whole process rolling.

What has happened since then is at the time it was closer to the Spanish coast. It has been pushed out by these tugboats trying to keep it afloat and their efforts now are seeming to fail. We can give you an extent of the damage before the split this day. Two of the main fishing inlets in northwest Spain, the one at La Carunia (ph) and the other at Ferol (ph) had already been shut off because there was an ecological disaster about 10 years ago, a major oil spill, not as big as the Exxon Valdez, but a major oil spill.

And fishing boats along the coast were going out there and trying to break up the slick that had already come close to shore. That was the situation several hours ago before this latest problem. And so now it's all hands on deck to see what can be done to prevent further damage -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Got you.

And just quickly, just to clear everything up, this was not an attack. We believe this was an accident.

GOODMAN: Authorities have given no indication that there was any attack or incident of terrorism involved in this incident. And that was looked at initially, but there's been nothing that's come out, at least publicly, and no hint of it privately that we've heard that there was an act of terrorism behind this -- Carol.

COSTELLO: All right, Al Goodman, thanks.

We're going to catch you throughout the morning here on DAYBREAK.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com






Aired November 19, 2002 - 05:05   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: And now to that breaking news we were telling you about, that oil tanker that split in two off the Spanish coast.
We do have Al Goodman live on the phone right now -- Al, are you there?

AL GOODMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Carol, good morning.

We can tell you, we can confirm via the salvage company that's been working on this ship that there has occurred a split. Now, we don't know the extent of the new damage. But to give you an idea of how bad this is looking, let's just tell you what the situation was before the split occurred this day. There was already an estimated 90 million euros in damage, or $90 million, that is, in damage to Spain's lucrative fishing industry from the spill that had already occurred from this Prestige tanker. That's the name of the tanker. It's a Bahamian, flagged in the Bahamas Islands.

It has been spilling oil since last Wednesday and the damage already was significant to the fishing industry. Even before this latest break. The slick that had begun to form was estimated to be about 70 miles long by five miles wide, not a continuous slick, but roughly covering that distance.

Now, we unfortunately can expect that slick to get worse. The Spanish and Portuguese governments had declined to allow this ship to be towed into either port of either country because they didn't want the ecological disaster to happen closer to the coastline. But now their worst fears are being confirmed. There have been special tugboats, Carol, working with that ship 150 miles off the coast of Spain, trying to keep it afloat and trying to buffet it from the seas.

But apparently those efforts have failed and we will, in the coming hours, try to get you some updated estimates on the damage -- Carol.

COSTELLO: It just brings to mind the disaster with the Exxon Valdez, doesn't it?

Do we know how the ship was damaged in the first place?

GOODMAN: We do not have a clear estimate on what happened in the first place, although it did occur in high seas, high winds and very choppy seas, big waves. There were some crew members who said they thought that the ship had struck something last Wednesday, but they couldn't see it with their own eyes because of the inclement conditions, the bad weather. But we don't have a definitive what happened to the ship to start the whole process rolling.

What has happened since then is at the time it was closer to the Spanish coast. It has been pushed out by these tugboats trying to keep it afloat and their efforts now are seeming to fail. We can give you an extent of the damage before the split this day. Two of the main fishing inlets in northwest Spain, the one at La Carunia (ph) and the other at Ferol (ph) had already been shut off because there was an ecological disaster about 10 years ago, a major oil spill, not as big as the Exxon Valdez, but a major oil spill.

And fishing boats along the coast were going out there and trying to break up the slick that had already come close to shore. That was the situation several hours ago before this latest problem. And so now it's all hands on deck to see what can be done to prevent further damage -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Got you.

And just quickly, just to clear everything up, this was not an attack. We believe this was an accident.

GOODMAN: Authorities have given no indication that there was any attack or incident of terrorism involved in this incident. And that was looked at initially, but there's been nothing that's come out, at least publicly, and no hint of it privately that we've heard that there was an act of terrorism behind this -- Carol.

COSTELLO: All right, Al Goodman, thanks.

We're going to catch you throughout the morning here on DAYBREAK.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com