Prestige Oil Tanker Captain Released on Three Million Euro Bail

Spanish people protest against the actions of the Spanish government

The captain of the notorious tanker Prestige, Greek national Apostolos Mangouras was released from a Spanish jail on bail of three million euro last week. The captain’s friends and fellow merchant sailors greeted him as a national hero upon his release.

Mangouras spent 80 days in jail, he even turned 68 there. Hundreds of people applauded to him, when he came out of the jail. This was reported by Greek.Ru with reference to Deutsche Welle. As it turns out, the old captain was the only man, who tried to stand up against light-minded actions of the Spanish government. He demanded his damaged vessel should be rendered help to, although the government ordered to tug the tanker to the open ocean instead of rendering the necessary help to it. The tanker split there in the ocean on account of a heavy storm. This eventually caused the worst environmental disaster ever. The damage of the ecological tragedy has not been evaluated yet.

The captain of the tanker – a highly-skilled specialist – was put behind the bars. As Greek.Ru reported, the Spanish government had not acknowledged its mistake yet. In addition to that, the government does its best to object the establishment of a parliamentary committee to investigate the reasons of the catastrophe. The bail to release Captain Apostolos Mangouras was paid by the company London Steamship, which insured the tanker.

Oil tanker Prestige sank in November of the last year. The accident caused an immense environmental disaster in France and Spain. As RIA Novosti reported, the oil leakage ruined a lot of fishermen, since a lot of them worked on the ground of time-restricted state grants. Some fishermen resumed their activities recently, although they had to stop working soon after that. The oil from the tanker started polluting the coast again.

News agencies report, about 200 thousand people took part in an unusual demonstration in the town of La Coruca. The demonstration was organized as a token of protest against the actions of the Spanish government. This has been the largest action of protest in the town ever. “Save the Sea or We Will Pack Our Suitcases!” This was one of protesters’ slogans. People were carrying paper suitcases, which were then piled up in a port. This was a warning to the government: a lot of Galicia (Spanish northwest region) residents will have to leave their native land and start looking for work in other places. This has already happened before, when thousands of Galicia residents had to leave their homes and go to Latin America. The emigration flow from Galicia has decreased a lot over the recent decade on account of the social and economic stabilization in the region. Who knows, maybe the history will repeat itself.

Sergey Yugov
PRAVDA.Ru

Translated by Dmitry Sudakov