Spain commemorates the 20th anniversary of the sinking of the Prestige

The Prestige, flying the flag of the Bahamas, sank on November 19, 2002 off the northwest coast of Spain.

© Spanish Armada/Getty

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1 min

Spain commemorates 20 years of its worst environmental tragedy.

The sinking of the Prestige tanker off the coast of Galicia, in the north-west of the peninsula, had soiled 170 kilometers of the coast by spilling nearly 63 thousand tonnes of fuel oil and provoked an unprecedented citizen mobilization to save marine fauna and clean the coasts .

A disaster that remains engraved in the memories. 

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With our correspondent in Madrid

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 This slogan in Galician chanted in the demonstrations and addressed to the authorities still resonates for all Spaniards two decades after the most tragic of ecological disasters.

No one has forgotten the management of this crisis by the government of José Maria Aznar which, for several days, refused to recognize the existence of an oil spill.

The Conservative executive at the time was widely criticized for deciding to move the boat away when it was already losing fuel.

The oil spill then extended over hundreds of kilometres.

For weeks, thousands of volunteers from all over the country cleaned the beaches of this sticky oil, called "chapapote", washing by hand thousands of birds covered with this black paste.

A trial takes place ten years later, only 

for an ecological offence.

Several decisions have also been taken to improve the safety of ships carrying toxic products, but the risk of new oil spills is always possible.

►Also read: Environment: the most important oil spills in history

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• Environment