A tanker laden with 70,000 tonnes of fuel oil split in two off northwest Spain today and its stern section sank, triggering what ecologists said could become one of the world's worst oil spills.
Salvage crews were battling to keep afloat the battered bow section of the Prestige, barely afloat about 130 miles off the coast in Atlantic waters 3,600 metres (11,880 feet) deep.
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An bird lies covered in oil on a beach near the town of Arteixo in northern Spain after fuel oil from the stricken Bahamas registered tanker Prestige arrived to shore.
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"It (the bow) will sink, definitely. It can happen as we speak but it could take 10 or 24 hours. It's impossible to tell," said Mr Lars Walder, spokesman for the Dutch company Smit Salvage, whose tugs had been towing the wreck out to sea.
Experts said the ship's tanks might crack upon hitting the sea floor, implode from the pressure or eventually rust through.
Mr Walder said it might be possible to pump the remaining oil from the tanks, but the depth of the sea and the bad weather would make any such operation extremely difficult.
The tanker, chartered by the Swiss-based Russian oil trader Crown Resources, was carrying twice as much oil as the Exxon Valdezwas when it ran aground in Alaska in 1989, causing a spill that devastated a stretch of pristine wilderness.
Spanish officials said the Bahamian-flagged Prestigespilled 5,000 to 6,000 tonnes of its load when the vessel broke apart, adding to the 5,000 tonne spill that had left a 17 km (10 mile) oil slick in its wake as it was pulled out to sea.
The oil has blackened the rugged coastline of Galicia, thrown 1,000 Spanish fishermen out of work and coated sea birds.
One of Europe's richest fisheries - habitat for such delicacies as goose barnacles and lobster - was under threat as the wind blew more oil from the sinking ship towards the coast.
"If the oil tanker loses all its oil... if all that escapes from the hull, then this is a disaster which is going to have twice the effect of the Exxon Valdez, which is one of the worst that we have known," Mr Christopher Hails, the World Wildlife Fund International's programme director, said from Switzerland.
Toxic chemicals in the oil threaten to have "more insidious and longer-term effects" on the ecosystem than the immediate physical damage to marine life, Mr Hails said. While the Exxon Valdezspilled crude oil, the Prestigewas carrying fuel oil, more harmful to wildlife.
Spain's Deputy Prime Minister, Mr Mariano Rajoy, said three cleanup ships were on the way to the scene, and there were tugs, helicopters and reconnaissance planes around the bow section.
Portuguese Prime Minister Jose Manuel Durao Barroso said a Portuguese frigate would join a corvette already in the area.
But Smit Salvage's Mr Walder said the heavy swell meant nothing could be done to stop the oil slick heading for the coast.
"It may look calm and sunny on television but there are five metre (16-foot) waves, which is normal at this time of year. It is impossible to stop it," Mr Walder said.
