A very large oil slick from the sunken tanker Prestige is bearing down on the northwest coast of Spain, threatening to pile on misery for a fishing industry already devastated by the marine disaster.
The ship, with about 65,000 tonnes of fuel oil remaining in her holds, broke in two and sank on 19 November, about 200 km off the coast.
Oil has already fouled more than 100 beaches, immobilised sea birds and forced a ban on fishing along 400 km of coast. Thousands of fishermen have been temporarily thrown out of work.
Officials in the Galicia region estimated the new slick at 11,000 tonnes, and said it was expected to hit the coast this weekend.
It is not clear whether this is residual oil from the sinking, or whether the tanker's hull has begun leaking fresh oil on the ocean floor.
Since the sinking, seven suction ships have collected 2,314 tonnes of fuel oil at sea. Another 2,000 tonnes have been scraped up on land.
