Sunken oil tanker: pollution of moroccan coasts unlikely, state secretary

The pollution threat of the oil tanker Prestige, which sank off the Spanish coast Tuesday, is unlikely to affect Morocco, the Moroccan secretariat of state in charge of environment said.

The secretariat said in a release circulated Thursday the national permanent commission of accidental water pollution fighting met on November 21 to discuss the accident and the needed measures.

The commission gathers representatives of the secretariat of state in charge of environment, the Royal Navy, the Royal Gendarmerie, sea fisheries, civil protection, ports authorities and the ministry of foreign affairs and cooperation.

The commission found that the "pollution of the Moroccan coasts is still unlikely, but will, however, be following closely the developments of the case."

The stricken vessel broke apart taking most of its 77,000 tons of fuel oil to the ocean floor some two miles below, but at least 10,000 tons is believed to have leaked into the Atlantic.

The tanker, registered in Panama and once named Gladys, is part of an aging fleet the European Union is planning to ban over the next decade.