Tallinn, Estonia: Greenpeace activists stop the single-hulled oil tanker 'Byzantio' in the port of Tallinn, Estonia, preventing it from leaving with its cargo of 50,000 tonnes of oil.
Photo©Greenpeace
Greenpeace activists today blocked the oil tanker Byzantio in the port of Tallinn, Estonia, preventing it from leaving with its cargo of 50,000 tonnes of oil. 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.
Greenpeace activists are chained to the mooring lines of the ship and inflatable boats are displaying banners with the word "Hazard!" stamped across them.
Greenpeace activists are chained to the mooring lines of the ship and inflatable boats are displaying banners with the word "Hazard!" stamped across them.
"The world has been able to see the unimaginable amount of damage to the environment that oil tankers such as this cause to the environment. It would be direct governmental negligence to allow one more hazardous ship to leave port," said Pernilla Svenberg of Greenpeace. "The Prestige catastrophe is clear proof of the threat ships like the Byzantio are for the environment. With the experience of the Prestige behind us, European governments must ban these ships from our seas. We can't afford to wait 13 more years."