Prestige Shipwreck, oil spill and ecological catastrophe
These images were my contribution to a photographic exhibition that I carried out on the occasion of the sinking of the Prestige oil tanker off the coast of Galicia in 2002. The ecological catastrophe produced by the oil leak had dimensions hitherto unknown in Spain, which was seen as a layer of oil covered hundreds of kilometers of coastline.
Thanks to the support of the Casa de la Juventud and the Córdoba City Council, I was able to go at a time when they were trying to clean the coast of oil and trying to prevent new oil slicks from reaching the coast.
I was able to document the catastrophe of the oil spill on the Galician coasts, the efforts of the volunteers both in removing the oil and in providing the necessary logistics, as well as moments of coexistence and humanity, and the protests of the people against the management that was being carried out of the catastrophe.
The images were captured in late December 2002 and early January 2003.
Prestige Shipwreck and oil spill
On November 13, 2002, ‘Prestige’, a Bahamas-flagged oil tanker with 77,033 tons of fuel on board, started to capsize near the coast of Galicia (Spain) and a slick of oil spilled five miles long. Six days later, on November 19, after being towed out to the open sea, the tanker breaks in two and sinks 3,600 meters below the sea, just 246 miles from Finisterre (A Coruña, Spain).
The fishermen who saw first that the oil was approaching the coast, went out to the sea with their boats to pick it up before it reached the coast and the estuaries where the oil would cause irreparable harm. Barriers were constructed to try to contain it, but the oil was very slick and it managed to reach the coast.
During the following days the oil came to the coast, nothing was left unspoiled. A black layer covering the lives of many people.
People tried to clean it up with any means they could reach. It was not enough. Wave after wave came covered with oil.
Thousands of volunteers came from everywhere to help remove the oil from the coast.
The cross is the symbol of what is dead, covered in black as the sea. A natural disaster, a human drama
Numbers
63.000 tons of oil spilled
1,600 km of coastline contaminated
More than 65,000 people flocked to combat fuel
1,087 volunteers needed medical attention
23,181 birds of over 90 species collected
4.442 € million total cost of the tragedy
Photo Gallery – Prestige Shipwreck and oil spill 2002
The oil from the Prestige has covered everything. A cloak that covers everything, a grotesquely beautiful scene. The smells and images are mixed with the nausea of a still life, little can escape this desolation. Camelle (Galicia), next to the Man museum.
An oiled promenade, a black-tinted beach. Where are the solutions? Where are the sophisticated media? Only a few baskets and the hands of volunteers and workers are the solution to this disaster. Is it enough?…Promenade of Muxía (Galicia) 2002
The crosses pray for a dead sea and a people trying to rise again. The rough sea pushed the oil to the heart of Muxía, a place of forced mourning for the ambition of men. Given that, only a couple of workers trying out a new cleaning system… three days to clean that square and it was still dirty. Muxía putting on makeup before New Year’s Eve. Galicia (2002)
The volunteers have to back away from the strong waves of the rising tide, watching helplessly as a black shadow recolors the stones that they had just cleaned.
Desperation, impotence,… Lyra beach. Galicia (2002)
At Lira Beach, volunteers try to get rid of the sticky oil that is removed by tractors. The sea sprays with wind and water those who clean in an environment smelling of Diesel, boots and gloves become heavy and any job requires more effort with each passing moment. Galicia (2002)
On Orzán Beach, in La Coruña, the sea breaks against the beach where the crosses continue as a sign of mourning and death. The Galicians with their arms crossed… only as a sign of protest. Galicia (2002)
Crosses and more crosses, they are few for the amount of death that lives on the Galician coast. Some 60,000 dead birds…; La Coruna. Galicia (2002)
The children… do not understand much but they know that something is happening because they see their parents tense, screaming and protesting… for something that was taken from them… for the land, for the sea, for the life that for a moment became death… it belongs to them, it belongs to the children and they have taken it from them, it belongs to everyone and they have taken it from us. Galicia (2002)
In front of the Government Delegation in La Coruña, the crosses brought by tens of thousands of protesters crowded before the nervous gaze of the Police. That was another tide, a tide of protest, a tide of demands, a tide that seeks to cleanse the incompetence of those who say they want the best for their people. Galicia (2002)
It’s New Year’s Eve at the Lonja de Muxía, the volunteers who clean the oil from the coast every day take a break to share a party. The media is gone now, and the volunteers can enjoy some time without spotlights. Galicia (2002)
The wives of the fishermen, in addition to having lost their jobs like their husbands (since many helped with the fishing tasks), have to see how they sink into anxiety crises at the same time that they see their sea dyed black and also Her future. But it is incredible to see how they show superhuman strength and prepare food for the volunteers and then wash their trays, and always with a smile of gratitude on their faces. Heroines… Muxía Market. Galicia (2002)
Protests by volunteers who feel abandoned due to the reckless lack of coordination between institutions. They also complain, but nobody listens to them. Muxia port. Galicia (2002)
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