An environmental panel at India's Supreme Court on Friday accused France of violating the international Basel Convention on the transport of hazardous waste by sending the Clemenceau aircraft carrier to India for decontamination.

But the panel asked for two more weeks to reach a final decision on whether to let the warship proceed to the Alang shipyard, in northwest India.

In the meantime, "the Clemenceau is continuing its journey in international waters," said French defence ministry spokesman Jean-Francois Bureau.

The voyage, which began last weekend, could take up to two months.

Greenpeace and three other groups have tried for months to block the transfer on grounds that Indian shipyard workers are not properly protected from the hazards of working with asbestos, which can cause fatal lung diseases.

Greenpeace France and the Ban Asbestos group, which fought a lengthy legal battle to stop the warship from leaving, on Friday called for it to turn back.

"France's position, arguing that more than 90 percent of the asbestos has been removed, is absurd and untenable," Pascal Husting, the head of Greenpeace France, was quoted as saying in a joint statement.

"Now that the (Indian) commission has confirmed the highly toxic nature of the Clemenceau and therefore its illegality in India, the French authorities should call back the aircraft carrier," he argued.

Greenpeace urged the French state to "carry out a full asbestos decontamination before possibly exporting (the ship) for scrapping."

The French defence ministry said on Thursday the ship contained no more than 45 tonnes of asbestos, but an official from a firm contracted to remove asbestos from the ship said it still held 500 to 1,000 tonnes of the substance.

The Clemenceau, which was commissioned in 1961 and took part in the 1991 Gulf War, was taken out of service six years later when it was superseded by the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle.

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