Sunday: The 'Prestige' oil tanker is seen off Spain's coast in the Atlantic ocean.
MADRID, Spain — In an accident that could cause an oil spill twice the size of the 1989 Exxon Valdez disaster, a tanker carrying over 20 million gallons of oil broke in two off of Spain and started to sink Tuesday.
"It has now split in two and one part is sinking," said Claudia Van Andel, a spokeswoman for SMIT salvage company.
The Bahamas-flagged Prestige ruptured Wednesday during stormy weather 150 miles off the coast, and salvagers had raced to prevent the ship from sinking or spilling its cargo. SMIT estimated that the tanker had lost between 1.3 million gallons and 2.6 million gallons of oil so far.
The vessel had been disconnected from the salvage tugs, Van Andel said. Most of the crew were airlifted off the ship last week.
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