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Al Goodman: Spain bracing for worst
CAION, Spain (CNN) -- Residents of northwestern Spain are bracing for an ecological disaster after a tanker loaded with fuel oil broke apart and sank offshore. CNN correspondent Al Goodman in Spain spoke to CNN anchor Carol Costello on Wednesday about the threat posed to the area's beaches and wildlife. GOODMAN: Carol, good morning. We're in the town of Caion, which is a little bit south of La Coruna. We're here on the beach, and I've got to tell you, we're surrounded by the oil slick that was the initial part of this tanker spilling last week. This place, this beach, Carol, smells like a gas station. Now, we've been down on the beach. This gook (got) all over the shoes of our CNN team. You can just imagine what it's doing to the wildlife and to the rich fisheries that are along this area and that make up the heart of the economy of this northwestern part of Spain. In this town, the 60 fishermen are all out of work. They're taking a small government dole that's been approved on an emergency status, and this is just the beginning of what they think is going to be a worst-disaster scenario. Now, the spill here is from last week, when about 10 percent of the ship's cargo of 77,000 tons of heavy fuel oil spilled out ... when the ship was closer to the shore. Now, on Tuesday it sank about a hundred miles offshore. It had been pushed out there by Spanish authorities who didn't want this mess coming up on shore, and perhaps another 10 percent more has leaked out, and they say that could be on the shore by Thursday. So people here, not only in this town, but in dozens of towns for miles and miles and miles down this way along the coast, are bracing for the worst -- Carol. COSTELLO: A question for you: Those containers that are now on the bottom of the ocean, do you think they'll break apart? Is there any way that they can make sure that they don't? GOODMAN: OK, the betting odds, according to various experts that have been interviewed by a lot of different Spanish media, including the main newspaper in this region, are saying that it's not a likely bet that all of that oil is going to stay in there, and here's why: ... According to one expert, the pressure of the sea on those containers, on that sunken vessel that split in two, is like someone stepping on a soda can. (The ship) just crunches. They say that's especially true if the tanks are not full, which they may not have been. Several of the tanks, perhaps six of the tanks, each carrying perhaps 3,000 tons of oil, are thought to have broken up between last week and the sinking yesterday, and they're expecting that some more will also break, unfortunately -- Carol. COSTELLO: Another question for you, do you see any wildlife on shore? I don't see any and, you know, everybody's wondering how the wildlife is affected, as far as the birds are concerned. GOODMAN: Carol, in this town we have not seen evidence of harm to wildlife. But we were down about an hour south of here on Tuesday, and we spoke with a senior environmental leader, who said that his people had already been trying to clean up about 2,000 birds, and that was just in one area ... (The environmental leader) says the problem is even worse because this is a natural migratory route for birds from northern Europe going down to Africa and back. And so the problem is compounded. ... They don't believe they're going to have a good solution on the wildlife, but particularly on the fisheries. In this town they fish for octopus. There are also clams and mussels all along this coast. It's some of the best eating in Spain, and it's endangered right now -- Carol.
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