Apostolos Mangouras y el Prestige
Me indigna que se trate así a Mangouras y al resto de la tripulación. Mangouras no tiene la culpa. Él sólo es un trabajador más que aceptó un trabajo peligroso para poder vivir e intentó hacer su trabajo con seriedad. La culpa la tienen unos cuantos políticos y unos cuantos funcionarios. La culpa la tienen quienes se benefician de trasladar crudo a bajo coste en condiciones de inseguridad para los tripulantes y para el medio. Me parece recordar que algún tipo de asociación había premiado la actuación de Mangouras, no sé, algún sindicato relacionado con los oficios del mar, supongo. Probablemente el barco se hubiese hundido antes si no fuese por lo acertado de sus decisiones. Desde que él lanzó la señal de alarma hasta que el barco se rompió pasaron muchos días. Escuché recientemente a su abogado en V Televisión: se quejaba de que lo irrisorio de su salario y de la falta de medios. Me pareció una persona valiente, que estaba ahí para intentar garantizar con todo su esfuerzo que el proceso fuese justo, tirando de sus ahorros. Como él dijo, en estos casos, no se suele inculpar al capitán, ni a la tripulación, puesto que se puede demostrar que hicieron todo lo posible y siguieron los protocolos para intentar evitar el desastre. Las tripulaciones las forman personas que tienen que comer todos los días y que aceptan trabajos aún sabiendo que existe un peligro. En Galicia sabemos lo duro que es el trabajo en el mar. Hay edificios que se derrumban con los obreros dentro y barcos que se hunden. Quien permite que esos barcos estén en circulación, quien obliga al capitán a ir en contra de lo que cree conveniente, ese el culpable. El problema es que los verdaderos culpables parecen intocables.
Prestige (La Coru·a, Spain, 2002) The Prestige, loaded with 77,000 metric tonnes of fuel oil, developed a list off the coast of La Corun Äa, Spain in severe weather conditions on 13 November 2002. Despite the conditions, Captain Mangouras chose to stay on board. All the crew escaped without injury or loss of life and the master corrected the list and stabilised the vessel. After numerous attempts to make fast the tow (which parted several times due to the prevailing conditions) the tow line was successfully connected at midday on 14 November 2002. Both the master and salvors requested the Spanish authorities to grant the vessel refuge in sheltered waters. Both these requests were refused, a decision which has been the subject of much condemnation as it has been argued that granting the ship refuge was the best way to ensure that any further pollution was minimised16 and that the authorities' actions turned the incident into a major environmental catastrophe.17 Instead, the authorities ordered the Prestige to proceed into the Atlantic in winter gale-force weather. Some six days after the initial incident, the Prestige broke in two and sank, with the loss of the ship and substantial pollution along many hundreds of kilometres of coastline.
ResponderEliminarThe provision of places of refuge for ships in distress was an issue that was already being comprehensively reviewed within the IMO in the aftermath of the Castor incident in 2001.18 The Prestige incident brought existing concerns into sharp relief and the IMO Guidelines on Places of Refuge for Ships in Need of Assistance were adopted in December 2003.19
The master was immediately handcuffed when he had evacuated the vessel and arrested. He was charged with criminal offences relating to pollution and disobedience of the Spanish administrative authorities pursuant to the Spanish Criminal Code. Under international law,20 the master could only be imprisoned if he was found guilty of an offence involving a `wilful and serious act of pollution'. However, he was transferred to jail where he remained for 83 days being released only upon payment of bail of 3 million under strict conditions, including the obligation to remain in Spain and report to a local police station every morning (including weekends). In March 2005, the master was allowed to return to Greece permanently with an undertaking to return to Spain for the trial. His treatment by the Spanish authorities has attracted much criticism, including from the European Parliament, further to a public hearing in March 2003.21 Almost exactly 10 years after the incident, the master's criminal trial has been set to commence on 16 October 2012.22