- (AFP) -- A collision with a wayward container caused
the problems on board the oil tanker Prestige which led it to sink off
Spain's coast this week, a Sunday newspaper reported the ship's captain
as saying.
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- Greek captain Apostolus Magouras, who was in charge of
the tanker blamed for one of Europe's worst oil spills, said his ship had
smashed into a container floating in the busy shipping lane which holed
its starboard side, according to La Voz de Galicia newspaper.
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- After "a very loud sound" at the moment of
impact, the Prestige began to list badly and took on water, forcing him
to fill the port ballast tanks to stabilise the tanker, he said.
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- The captain -- who has been in Spanish custody since
his vessel sank on Tuesday -- denied allegations that he had refused to
cooperate with Spanish authorities by directing the tanker towards the
coast.
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- He said he "risked his life" to help a tow-boat
take the tanker farther out to sea, the newspaper reported.
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- Magouras also confirmed that his final destination was
Singapore, but contradicted Spain's claim that he intended to call into
the British enclave of Gibraltar.
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- He had orders to head towards the colony -- which Spain
wants to reclaim -- "without planning to stop there," the newspaper
quoted him as saying.
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- When the Prestige sank it released more than 10,000 tonnes
of oil in to the water, some of which soiled around 400 kilometres (300
miles) of Spain's northwest coast, causing widespread environmental damage
and forcing authorities to impose a fishing ban.
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- The remaining 60,000 tonnes of oil the ship was carrying
went down with it to the sea bed, 3,800 metres (2.4 miles) underwater.
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- Spanish officials say they believe the oil will solidify
at that depth and in the near-freezing temperature there, although environmentalists
fear it, too, will eventually float in towards land.
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