Mayor says fuel slick from Gibraltar reaches Spanish coast

By CIARÁN GILES
Associated Press

MADRID (AP) — The mayor of Spain’s southern town of La Línea de la Concepción says an oil slick from a damaged and partly sunken bulk carrier ship off Gibraltar has reached a nearby Spanish beach. Juan Franco told reporters the slick was worrying but not a tragedy. The leakage occurred Thursday but divers sealed the source. Earlier Friday, Gibraltar officials said 80% of the diesel from ship had been removed but that some 180 tons of heavy fuel is still on board. The ship was ordered grounded in the shallows after colliding Monday with another vessel in the bay of the British territory located at the western entrance to the Mediterranean Sea