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CNN Live At Daybreak
Tanker Carrying Massive Amount of Oil Sinks Off Spanish Coast
Aired November 20, 2002 - 05:35 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: It's already an environmental nightmare and officials say it could get worse. Here's the deal. A tanker carrying a massive amount of oil broke in two and sank off the Spanish coast. The good news is a lot of the fuel is still in the containers. The bad news, some of it has already leaked out.
CNN's Al Goodman is near La Coruna, Spain -- and, Al, I can only imagine how people must be feeling there.
AL GOODMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Carol, good morning.
We're in the town of Caion, which is a little bit south of La Coruna. We're here on the beach and I've got to tell you, we're surrounded by the oil slick that was the initial part of this tanker spilling last week. This place, this beach, Carol, smells like a gas station.
Now, we've been down on the beach. This gook gets all over your shoes of our CNN team. You can just imagine what it's doing to the wildlife and to the rich fisheries that are along this area and that make up the heart of the economy of this northwestern part of Spain.
In this town, the 60 fishermen are all out of work. They're taking a small government dole that's been approved on an emergency status and this is just the beginning of what they think is going to be a worst disaster scenario.
Now, the spill here is from last week, when about 10 percent of the ship's cargo of 77,000 tons of heavy fuel oil spilled out in the initial phases when the ship was closer to the shore.
Now, on Tuesday it sank about a hundred miles offshore. It had been pushed out there by Spanish authorities who didn't want this mess coming up on shore and perhaps another 10 percent even more has leaked out, and they say that could be on the shore by Thursday.
So people here, not only in this town, but in dozens of towns for miles and miles and miles down this way along the coast, are bracing for the worst -- Carol.
COSTELLO: A question for you. Those containers that are now on the bottom of the ocean, do you think they'll break apart? Is there any way that they can make sure that they don't?
GOODMAN: OK, the betting odds, according to various experts that have been interviewed by a lot of different Spanish media, including the main newspaper in this region, are saying that it's not a likely bet that all of that oil is going to stay in there, and here's why. The pressure, according to one expert, the pressure of the sea on those containers, on that sunken vessel that split in two, is like some stepping on a soda can. It just crunches. They say that's especially true if the tanks are not full, which they may not have been. Several of the tanks, perhaps six of the tanks, each carrying, perhaps, maybe 3,000 tons of oil, are thought to have broken up already between last week and the sinking yesterday and they're expecting that some more will also break, unfortunately -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Another question for you, do you see any wildlife on shore? I don't see any and, you know, everybody's wondering how the wildlife is affected as far as the birds are concerned.
GOODMAN: Carol, in this town we have not seen evidence of harm to wildlife. But we did, we were down about an hour south of here on Tuesday and we spoke with a senior environmental leader who said that his people had already been trying to clean up about 2,000 birds, and that was just in one area.
Now, there's a natural park, a certain bird reserve. He says the problem is even worse because this is a natural migratory route from birds, for birds from northern Europe going down to Africa and back. And so the problem is compounded. They're not looking favorably, they don't believe they're going to have a good solution on the wildlife, but particularly on the fisheries. In this town they fish for octopus. There are also clams and mussels all along this coast. It's some of the best eating in Spain and it's endangered right now -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Oh, yes.
Al Goodman, thanks.
We appreciate it.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Coast>
Aired November 20, 2002 - 05:35 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: It's already an environmental nightmare and officials say it could get worse. Here's the deal. A tanker carrying a massive amount of oil broke in two and sank off the Spanish coast. The good news is a lot of the fuel is still in the containers. The bad news, some of it has already leaked out.
CNN's Al Goodman is near La Coruna, Spain -- and, Al, I can only imagine how people must be feeling there.
AL GOODMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Carol, good morning.
We're in the town of Caion, which is a little bit south of La Coruna. We're here on the beach and I've got to tell you, we're surrounded by the oil slick that was the initial part of this tanker spilling last week. This place, this beach, Carol, smells like a gas station.
Now, we've been down on the beach. This gook gets all over your shoes of our CNN team. You can just imagine what it's doing to the wildlife and to the rich fisheries that are along this area and that make up the heart of the economy of this northwestern part of Spain.
In this town, the 60 fishermen are all out of work. They're taking a small government dole that's been approved on an emergency status and this is just the beginning of what they think is going to be a worst disaster scenario.
Now, the spill here is from last week, when about 10 percent of the ship's cargo of 77,000 tons of heavy fuel oil spilled out in the initial phases when the ship was closer to the shore.
Now, on Tuesday it sank about a hundred miles offshore. It had been pushed out there by Spanish authorities who didn't want this mess coming up on shore and perhaps another 10 percent even more has leaked out, and they say that could be on the shore by Thursday.
So people here, not only in this town, but in dozens of towns for miles and miles and miles down this way along the coast, are bracing for the worst -- Carol.
COSTELLO: A question for you. Those containers that are now on the bottom of the ocean, do you think they'll break apart? Is there any way that they can make sure that they don't?
GOODMAN: OK, the betting odds, according to various experts that have been interviewed by a lot of different Spanish media, including the main newspaper in this region, are saying that it's not a likely bet that all of that oil is going to stay in there, and here's why. The pressure, according to one expert, the pressure of the sea on those containers, on that sunken vessel that split in two, is like some stepping on a soda can. It just crunches. They say that's especially true if the tanks are not full, which they may not have been. Several of the tanks, perhaps six of the tanks, each carrying, perhaps, maybe 3,000 tons of oil, are thought to have broken up already between last week and the sinking yesterday and they're expecting that some more will also break, unfortunately -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Another question for you, do you see any wildlife on shore? I don't see any and, you know, everybody's wondering how the wildlife is affected as far as the birds are concerned.
GOODMAN: Carol, in this town we have not seen evidence of harm to wildlife. But we did, we were down about an hour south of here on Tuesday and we spoke with a senior environmental leader who said that his people had already been trying to clean up about 2,000 birds, and that was just in one area.
Now, there's a natural park, a certain bird reserve. He says the problem is even worse because this is a natural migratory route from birds, for birds from northern Europe going down to Africa and back. And so the problem is compounded. They're not looking favorably, they don't believe they're going to have a good solution on the wildlife, but particularly on the fisheries. In this town they fish for octopus. There are also clams and mussels all along this coast. It's some of the best eating in Spain and it's endangered right now -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Oh, yes.
Al Goodman, thanks.
We appreciate it.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
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