This jewel of the French Navy had passed in 2000 under the Brazilian flag. NGOs denounce a “ environmental crime “.
Qualified as a “toxic package of 30,000 tons” by the Robin des Bois association, the old hull of the Foch – 266 meters long – is filled with asbestos, paint and other toxic waste, according to several environmental organizations. But the Brazilian navy considered that there was no other choice given its very degraded condition and that “un spontaneous sinking of the hull was inevitable in the long run.
” Faced with the risks involved in towing and because of the deterioration of the hull (…), the only solution is to abandon the hull by sinking it in a controlled manner “, explained the Navy late Wednesday in a joint statement with the Brazilian Ministry of Defense. An area some 350 km off the Brazilian coast, 5,000 meters deep, was considered to be “ the safest for this scuttling, according to the statement.
Two weeks ago, the navy announced that it had taken the former aircraft carrier in tow in the Atlantic. It was previously towed by a Dutch tug for the Turkish shipyard Sok Denizcilik. The navy had specified that in view of its state of degradation and ” high risk that he represented for the environment, it would not allow his return to a port or to Brazilian territorial waters.
Several NGOs had then expressed their fear of seeing Brazil commit a ” environmental crime “. ” The Brazilian Navy should be condemned for negligence. If they sink this highly toxic craft in the middle of the Atlantic, they will violate three international environmental treaties for no good reason “, accused Jim Puckett, director of the Basel Action Network (BAN).
Built at the end of the 1950s in the shipyard of Saint-Nazaire, in the west of France, the Foch was for 37 years in the service of the French Navy. It had been bought in 2000 by Brazil, which had renamed it Sao Paulo.
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(With AFP)