BRASILIA—Despite environmentalists' worries that the decaying 1960s French-built ship would poison the water and the marine food chain, Brazil destroyed a decommissioned aircraft carrier in the Atlantic Ocean off its northeast coast, according to the Brazilian Navy.
The 32,000-tonne carrier had been drifting offshore for three months after Turkey refused it admission to be dismantled due to environmental concerns, and the ship was dragged back to Brazil.
The carrier was destroyed in a "planned and controlled sinking" late on Friday, the Navy said in a statement, that would "prevent logistical, operational, environmental, and economic costs to the Brazilian state," it added.
The Sao Paulo's hull was buried in Brazilian jurisdictional seas 350 kilometers (217 miles) off the shore, where the sea is 5,000 meters (3 miles) deep, to minimize the impact on fisheries and ecosystems, according to the Navy.
Federal prosecutors and Greenpeace had petitioned the Brazilian authorities to halt the sinking, claiming that it was "toxic" owing to hazardous materials, including 9 tonnes of asbestos used in paneling.
"The sinking of the aircraft carrier Sao Paulo releases tons of asbestos, mercury, lead, and other very dangerous compounds into the bottom," warned Greenpeace in a statement. It accused Brazil's Navy of failing to defend the waters.
The Foch, a Clemenceau-class aircraft carrier capable of transporting 40 warplanes, served the French Navy for four decades.
Pepe Rezende, a defense specialist and former foreign policy congressional aide, stated that the carrier was purchased by the Brazilian Navy for $12 million in 1998 but required a $80 million refit that was never completed.
After the carrier was decommissioned, Sök Denizcilik Tic Sti, a Turkish marine recycling firm, purchased the hull for $10.5 million, but had to tow it back across the Atlantic after Turkey refused admission to their shipyard.
Brazil's Navy stated that it requested that the carrier be repaired at a Brazilian shipyard, but when an inspection revealed that it was taking on water and was at risk of sinking, the Navy barred the ship from entering Brazilian ports. It then made the decision to sink the Sao Paulo at sea.
According to Zilan Costa e Silva, the company's legal representative in Brazil, disposal of the carrier is the obligation of the Brazilian state under the 1989 Basel Convention on the transboundary transfer of hazardous materials.
The sinking, according to Greenpeace, breached the Basel Convention, the London Convention on the Prevention of Marine Pollution, and the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants.
"Rather than enable public examination of the ship, the Brazilian Navy opted to destroy the environment and lose millions of euros," Greenpeace stated, calling the sinking the "largest breach of chemical and waste agreements ever committed by a country."
