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Tanker inches toward Spanish port
MADRID, Spain (CNN) -- Officers aboard a Bahamian-flagged tanker were trying to coax their listing vessel into a Spanish port Wednesday after the ship started taking on water in bad weather, maritime authorities said. The 797-foot (243-meter) tanker Prestige was caught in high winds that whipped up 16-to 26-foot (5- to 8-meter) seas off Cape Finesterre, on Spain's northwest coast. The ship was en route to Gibraltar from the Latvian port of Riga with 77,000 tons of diesel fuel when its crew reported the vessel was taking on water, Spanish authorities said. All but three of the ship's mostly Filipino crew of 27 were evacuated. Its captain, first officer and chief engineer remained aboard, hoping to steer the tanker into the port of La Coruna, about 375 miles (600 kilometers) northwest of Madrid, with the aid of tugboats. The Prestige issued a distress call about 10:30 a.m. ET, authorities said. One crew member told authorities he thought he felt a bump just before the ship began listing. The vessel was last reported about 18 miles (30 kilometers) west of La Coruna, the site of a major oil spill in 1992.
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