London Steamship Owners Mutual Insurance Association News

Spain's Supreme Court sentenced the captain of the Prestige oil tanker, which sank off Spain's northwestern coast in 2002, covering thousands of kilometres of coastline in fuel oil, to two years in prison on Tuesday. The captain, Apostolos Mangouras, was convicted of recklessness resulting in catastrophic environmental damage, according to a statement by the court, overturning a previous sentence which cleared him of criminal responsibility. The sinking of the Greek tanker, which was sailing to Gibraltar, released an estimated 63,000 tones of foul-smelling black fuel along the Galicia coast and forced the closure of the country's richest fishing grounds.