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Three days after the sinking of the Great America , 330 km off La Rochelle, France, anxiety is rising. The Italian merchant ship, sinking 4,500 meters deep, was carrying dangerous goods and 2,200 tons of fuel for its own propulsion, among others. And now, it is no longer one but several oil slicks that advance towards the Atlantic coast, brought back to the Hexagon by the winds.
" The situation is not comparable to that of the Erika," says François de Rugy, referring to the sinking of an oil tanker in 1999 off Brittany. But despite everything, anxiety is rising.
In total, four vessels are mobilized to try to pump oil slicks on the high seas. Three belong to the French Navy, the last to the European Maritime Safety Agency. Their mission: to prevent as much as possible that the hydrocarbons do not run aground on the French coasts.
" One ton of hydrocarbon products recovered at sea, it avoids having to recover about ten tons of waste on the coast, says Riaz Akhoune, spokesman for the Maritime Prefect of the Atlantic. Because this product tends to emulsify, to grow, that's why we must intervene at sea. "
Bad weather conditions make it difficult to pump
And time is running out, because the tablecloths drift towards the coast at a speed of 35 kilometers per day. Their viscosity is evolving, Stéphane Doll, director of the Center for Documentation, Research and Experiments on Accidental Water Pollution ( Cedre ) says : " We are going to start from a large sheet that will fragment into small pieces and the product will take care of water, it will take 50% more water. So, the overall volume will increase and it will break up into small plates, in small pellets more it will move away from the exit zone. "
For now, poor weather conditions make it difficult to pump. Oil could reach the coast in eight to ten days.