Spanish Public Works Minister Francisco Alvarez-Cascos insisted that "the French government did not intervene" over the route the tanker should take after it first got into difficulty off the northwestern Spanish coast on November 13.

The vessel, carring 77,000 tonnes of heavy fuel oil, spilt thousands of tonnes of its cargo, wreaking environmental havoc along the northern Spanish coast as well as parts of Portugal and France before sinking six days later, having zigzagged up and down the coast in the intervening period.

The ship eventually went down 270 kilometres (160 miles) off the Galician port of Vigo.

Alvarez-Cascos issued his statement after a report carried in Spanish newspapers Monday quoted the French Atlantic maritime prefect, Admiral Jacques Gheerbrandt, as saying that Paris had appealed to Spain to keep the vessel clear of French waters.

Gheerbrandt was quoted as saying the French feared the tanker "would have broken in two off Arcachon", a popular resort on the southwestern French coast, and would have posed a greater comtamination threat.

TERRA.WIRE