Pollution alarm

ERIKA FOLLOWS AMOCO DOWN
As Diver prepares to publish, in February, a feature about diving on the infamous Amoco Cadiz, whose sinking set off a major oil disaster on France's North Brittany coast, another giant tanker may have become a dive site of the future with the loss of the giant Erika, off Brittany's more southerly shores.
The ship split in heavy weather well out to sea in December, sinking after its 26 crew were taken off. For a time pollution experts hoped that its cargo of heavy oil would sink to the sea floor and break up before it could reach the South Brittany coast. Subsequent events have, sadly, proved them wrong and a major clean-up operation continues as large quantities of oil wash ashore.
As a dive site of the future, the Erika would be a very different can of oil to the Amoco Cadiz. The new wreck lies some 50 miles south-west of Concarneau and in about 120m of water, so is firmly in mixed-gas diving territory.
The ship broke a third of the way aft from the bow and lies in two pieces. The large stern and midships section is recorded by the French Navy at 47.09N 04.15W; the smaller bow section at 47.14N 04.22W.
The wreck's deepwater position, well offshore on the continental shelf, will probably ensure that the tanker deteriorates only slowly with the passage of time.