Oil tanker breaks in two off Spanish coast

A damaged tanker carrying more than 70,000 tons of oil has broken in two off the north-western coast of Spain, news reports say.

The crippled tanker Prestige, carrying more than 70,000 tons of oil, split in two today threatening Spain’s north-west coast with an environmental disaster.

“The ship split in two at eight this morning (7am Irish time),” said a spokeswoman for the regional government in Galicia.

The Prestige ran into trouble off the Galician coast during a storm last Wednesday. Attempts by salvagers to tow it to safety failed after both Spain and Portugal refused to allow the ship to dock.

The Bahamian flagged vessel finally broke up about 150 miles off the Spanish coast.

Spanish government official Arsenio Fernandez de Mesa said the tanker was expected to leak an "important'' portion of its oil.

A spill of the entire cargo would double that of the 1989 Exxon Valdez spill in Alaska, one of the worst ever.