Brazil has proceeded this Friday to sink in a controlled manner its last aircraft carrier, the ‘Sao Paulo’, a ship of French origin that was out of service and contained in its interior 760 tons of asbestos.
The shipwreck took place 350 kilometers off the Brazilian coast, in an area with a depth of 5,000 meters, all following safety competencies to avoid possible logistical, operational, environmental and economic losses to the Brazilian State, as reported by the Navy in a statement.
Likewise, the area selected for the sinking of the aircraft carrier was chosen on the basis of studies carried out by the Navy’s Hydrographic Center and the Admiral Paulo Moreira Institute of Sea Studies, paying special attention to the mitigation of impacts on public health.
The technique used involved the action of divers, who placed explosives to perforate the hull and increase the flow of water into the interior of the ship until it sank completely, reported ‘Folha de S.Paulo’.
Meanwhile, the sinking of the ship has been the subject of discussions between the Brazilian Ministers José Múcio Monteiro (Defense) and Marina Silva (Environment), since the latter defended the thesis of the Brazilian Prosecutor’s Office, which rejected forcing the sinking by appealing to the environmental risk.
Analyses carried out by the NGO Shipbreaking Platform on an aircraft carrier twinned to Sao Paulo identified 760 tons of asbestos on the ship. In view of this, the organization began to question whether, in fact, the hull sent by Brazil would have the approximately ten tons of toxic substance foreseen in the inventory.
The aircraft carrier, in such a deteriorated state that it could barely anchor, was sold in 2021 by the Navy to a Turkish shipyard specialized in ship dismantling, but the Turkish government revoked the authorization to the vessel.
After that, the ship left Brazil on August 4, 2022, in a voyage that generated protests around the world and led Greenpeace to monitor it in real time.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
