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Reuters Worker Clears Fuel Oil From the Promenade at Muxia Beach in Northern Spain

Date: 25-Nov-02
Country: SPAIN
Author: PH/AH

Worker Clears Fuel Oil From the Promenade at Muxia Beach in Northern Spain Photo: PAUL HANNA
Photo: PAUL HANNA

The 26-year-old Bahamas-flagged vessel Prestige took some 70,000 tons of viscous fuel oil to the bottom of the Atlantic when it finally broke up on November 19, priming an ecological time-bomb for the scenic shores of Galicia.

Hundreds of kilometres of rugged coastline have been fouled by the stricken Prestige's cargo, destroying wildlife and wrecking the area's renowned fisheries and shellfish industry.

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