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Byzantio: rustbucket oil tanker

Greenpeace activists sample spilled crude oil from the sunken Prestige tanker. Enlarge Image

Leaked oil blackening Spain's coastline

A ruptured tanker carrying 77,000 tons of fuel oil, almost twice the amount that spilled from the Exxon Valdez, has split in two and sunk off of Spain's coast.

A Greenpeace activist inspects the spilled crude oil from the sunken Prestige tanker. Enlarge Image

Stop the next oil disaster

If it had been within your power to prevent the Prestige oil spill, would you have taken a moment to do so? We can't undo the damage of the Prestige, but we may be able to stop the next disastrous spill.

Greenpeace action against the single-hulled oil tanker 'Byzantio' on its way from Tallin with its cargo of 50,000 tonnes of oil. Greenpeace inflatables attemp to stop and enter the ship displayinga banner reading HAZARD Enlarge Image

Rust bucket oil tanker continues hazardous journey

The tanker left Estonia under the cover of darkness on Friday, but not before 20 Greenpeace activists braved the cold attempting to stop the Byzantio. The Byzantio is chartered by the same company that contracted the ill-fated oil tanker Prestige that sank off the north-western coast of Spain earlier this month. But this new hazard to the seas will not be allowed to pass quietly. More Greenpeace activists intercepted the ship as it passed the straits between Denmark and Germany.

Activists deliever oil waste from the Prestige oil spill to Crown Resources, the owner of the oil that covered Spain's northern coast. Enlarge Image

Byzantio tries to hide

Why would the owners of a 210 metre oil tanker try to elude activists, mislead journalists and try to sneak into the port of Rotterdam? Do they have something to hide?

Greenpeace activists halt movement, by climbing up the mooring ropes of the single-hulled oil tanker Byzantioin the port of Rotterdam, The Netherlands yesterday Enlarge Image

Prestige leaking, but activists protesting another rustbucket are stopped

The first images of the sunken oil tanker off Spain are out. Black oil is oozing out of the Prestige contrary to the Spanish government's assurance that it would freeze up and solidify at the bottom of the ocean. If it continues the Prestige could coat Spanish beaches for years to come.

Greenpeace activists dress in bird costums with black oil stains to simulate an oil disaster at the door of the EU Headquarters where European Ministers of Transport Telecommunication and Energy are meeting to discuss maritime safety. Enlarge Image

Activists bring oil disaster to European ministers

Over 35 Greenpeace activists reenacted an oil disaster at the doorstep of the European Union headquarters as European ministers are meeting to discuss maritime safety. Volunteers dressed in bird costumes with black 'oil' stains carried signs and banners reading: ACT NOW. Oil ran down the flags of EU member states activists carried. Five barrels of oil waste and residue brought from the Prestige oil disaster were unloaded in front of the building.

The Greenpeace flagship Rainbow Warrior sails in the Galician port town of La Coruna this morning in protest against the weak response to the oil disaster from authorities, and demanding that stricter measures are put in place. Enlarge Image

Rainbow Warrior leads protest flotilla in Spain

More than 150 local fishing boats and yachts joined Greenpeace's flagship the Rainbow Warrior In a protest flotilla off the Galacian port town of Coruña. Another 2000 people lined the harbour. What do we all want? An guarantee that catastrophes such as the Prestige oil tanker disaster will never happen again.

Greenpeace activists display, at the site of the Little Mermaid in Copenhagen, a banner reading Oil Hazard EU Clean up your act, referring to the infamous Prestige oil tanker disaster in Spain. Enlarge Image

Another tanker carrying oil in the Baltic runs aground

We said it was only a matter of time, and it seems we were right. Another tanker carrying 55,000 tonnes of fuel oil ran aground in the Lithuanian port of Klaipeda overnight. There are conflicting reports whether the vessel is leaking oil but authorities will attempt to tow it into port. Much further south, off the coast of Spain, the Prestige, which broke up and sank a month ago, continues to leak oil, as much as 125 tonnes every day.

Gibraltar authorities detain a Greenpeace inflatable following a Greenpeace protest against the single hulled oil tanker Vemamagna anchored in Algeciras Bay, Gibraltar today. Enlarge Image

Greenpeace boards single-hull tanker in Gibraltar

The cleanup of some 25,000 tonnes of oil from the sunken Prestige oil tanker continues along the coasts of Spain, France and Portugal. But single hull tankers are still a permanent presence in the region. Greenpeace activists boarded the single hull oil tanker Vemamagna in Algeciras Bay, Gibraltar today climbing the mast with banners reading "Oil Hazard" in English and Spanish.

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Latest Update

Latest Update All activists have been released without charges or fines, but the Byzantio continues south along the same route as the Prestige. Tuomas braved the bitter cold to climb up on the Byzantio but he got a warm welcome from the captain. Listen to his update> Charlotte helped keep the ship from casting off by climbing on to the morring lines. Listen to her update> Stefan, one of the activists from Sweden helping to stop the oil tanker was participating in his first boat action. Listen to his update> 0:16 CET Police have arrested the activists who were on the mooring lines, permitting the Byzantio to leave port. "We don't think it's acceptable that these single hull ships, old rust bucket that she is, should be allowed to traffic the oceans," said activist Permila Svenberg. "This is not over" said another activist -- "this ship is unsafe and should not be permitted on the high seas. We're going to keep the spotlight of public opinion on this and other dangerous tankers until something is done about them." 18:15 CET Four activists have been arrested but we are maintaining position on the mooring lines in survival suits. The temperature is -10 Celsius.