Environmental teams have responded with anger after the Brazilian Navy sank its former flagship plane service within the Atlantic. The decommissioned ship was initially slated to be dismantled for scrap steel in Türkiye, however was refused entry.

The “deliberate and managed sinking” of the 32,800-ton ‘Sao Paulo’ happened late within the afternoon on Friday, some 350km (217 miles) off the Brazilian coast at a depth of about 5,000 meters, in keeping with an announcement from the navy. The ultimate resting place was chosen with regard to the navigational, environmental, and financial elements of such a transfer, it added.

The choice to scuttle the ship got here after Turkish firm Sok Denizcilik was licensed final yr to scrap the vessel for steel, in what the Brazilian Protection Ministry known as “an unprecedented try” to recycle it in a “protected and environmentally sound” method.

Nonetheless, after the beginning of the vessel’s transit, Türkiye blocked the process as a result of considerations from its environmental authorities. Brazil was compelled to carry the service dwelling, however didn’t permit it to enter port over the “excessive threat” to the setting.

With the ‘Sao Paulo’ going through the hazard of spontaneously submerging as a result of buoyancy points, the Protection Ministry mentioned there was no different choice than “jettisoning the hull, by means of the deliberate and managed sinking.” 

Whereas Brazil sank the ship in a specifically chosen zone, the transfer drew the ire of environmental activists. In an announcement on Saturday, NGO Basel Motion Community mentioned that the vessel contained some 760 tons of hazardous asbestos, and lots of of tons of different poisonous substances, together with heavy metal-laden paint.

The group asserted that the sinking “will little doubt contaminate the marine ecosystem within the dumpsite space for years to come back.” 

The ‘Sao Paulo’ was a Clemenceau-class plane service which was initially commissioned by the French Navy below identify ‘Foch’ in 1963. The vessel, which might carry about 40 plane, was handed over to Brazil in 2000, changing into its new flagship. After being suffering from upkeep points, the ‘Sao Paulo’ was decommissioned in 2017.

You possibly can share this story on social media:

Observe RT on