Spain fears more pollution as oil tanker sinks

A small tanker carrying 1,400 tons of fuel sank and started leaking oil in Algeciras Bay off Gibraltar yesterday, threatening to add to the pollution of Spanish coasts caused by the Prestige disaster in November.

A small tanker carrying 1,400 tons of fuel sank and started leaking oil in Algeciras Bay off Gibraltar yesterday, threatening to add to the pollution of Spanish coasts caused by the Prestige disaster in November.

Two crew members were rescued when the Spabunker IV foundered in heavy seas a mile from land while it was being towed to Algeciras. The body of the Spanish captain, Miguel Roig, was later recovered. The ship was a petrol station that refuelled other vessels. The Spanish company Cepsa, which hired it, said some of its 300 tons of diesel fuel had leaked but the cargo was intact.

The sinking coincided with the court appearance in Gibraltar of Spanish Greenpeace activists who protested on Monday against tankers' hazardous operations by trying to board the Vemamagna, which is a petrol station off the Rock. Six of the 20 protesters face charges.