20 years after the Prestige catastrophe
An exhibition to learn about and remember one of the greatest ecological disasters of our times.
It is twenty years since one of worst disasters on the coast of the Iberian Peninsula. On November 13th 2002, the oil tanker Prestige spilled crude oil into the sea and washed up on the Galician coast, causing the country's greatest ecological disaster. To mark the twentieth anniversary of this event, the Museu Marítim is presenting an exhibition on what happened. From November 11 to June 18 you can visit Prestige: Chronical of a Catastrophe in Espai Mirador.
This is what happened. The ship was sailing 28 miles off the coast of Finisterre, with a cargo of 77,000 tonnes of dense fuel oil in adverse weather and strong winds. A blow from the sea caused a breach to open on the starboard side of the vessel. As a result of the storm, the crack grew in size and spilled fuel into the water. Gradually, as the ship sank, the material washed ashore in the area. In those days, more than 300,000 people were mobilised because of the accident and an unprecedented movement of volunteers tried to reverse the situation.
The Museu Marítim presents this exhibition that approaches the disaster from an ecological and environmentalist perspective. It shows an assessment of the consequences of the Prestige for the environment and the stability of fishing communities and emphasises sustainability, the need for renewable energies and regulated and environmentally friendly practices.
An exhibition to remind us of the bad practices of the past and for the younger generations to discover the real impact of polluting waste on the environment.