Madrid: A Russian fishing trawler that sank last week off Spain`s Canary Islands has been found and is still losing fuel, Public Works Minister Ana Pastor said Wednesday.
A robot sent into the Atlantic on Tuesday to inspect the wreck located it at a depth of 2,700 metres (8,850 feet) some 15 miles (24 kilometres) off the southern cost of Gran Canaria island, she told reporters in Gran Canaria.
"It is a greater depth than had expected," she added.
The Oleg Neydenov was carrying nearly 1,500 tonnes of fuel oil when it sank near the Canary Islands on April 15.
Bad weather has until now prevented the authorities from plugging the leak and removing fuel that has escaped from the trawler.
Environmentalist group Greenpeace said the oil slick from the trawler extends for over 100 kilometres.
The group has criticised Spanish authorities for towing the trawler out to sea as a precaution after it caught fire on April 11 when the ship was moored at Las Palmas port on Gran Canaria, prompting the 72 crew to be evacuated.
The trawler sank four days later some 15 miles (24 kilometres) south of Maspalomas, another town on Gran Canaria.
Environmentalists say the area where the ship sunk has deep-sea coral and a significant population of dolphins and turtles.
They recommend damaged ships be dealt with in ports or bays since oil spills can be harder to contain in the open sea.
The accident has stirred memories of Spain`s worst environmental disaster when the Prestige oil tanker sank off the northwestern coast of Spain in 2002, sending 63,000 tonnes of fuel into the Atlantic Ocean.
While the Prestige was carrying over 50 times more oil than the Oleg Neydenov, Greenpeace has warned that the sinking of the Russian ship can still damage the environment.
In January 2014, the Russian trawler was at the centre of a dispute between Russia and Senegal, which accused the Oleg Neydenov of fishing illegally in Senegalese waters.
Senegal seized the boat for three weeks and then towed it southwards towards the Guinea Bissau border.
The ship`s owner, a group based in Murmansk in northwestern Russia, paid Dakar EUR 900,000 ($950,000) to have it returned.
