The Foch aircraft carrier when it was operational in the French Navy, here in the Adriatic in 1994. – / AFP
The former flagship of the French Navy could end up in wreckage at the bottom of the Atlantic. Unless France intervenes…
A sad end for the former French aircraft carrier Foch, which was bought by Brazil in 2000 and renamed São Paulo. The Ministry of Defense and the Brazilian Navy announced their intention to sink it on Wednesday. The ship had been wandering since the end of last year off the Brazilian coast, deprived of a port of reception, after being turned back without notice by Turkey, which was to dismantle it. Associations warn of the environmental risks associated with the scuttling of this hull loaded with asbestos, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) banned since 1987 and mercury, substances highly harmful to marine life.
“I have been working on these issues for thirty years, I have never seen anything like it. This is madness “, is alarmed Jim Puckett, managing director of the Basel Action Network, for whom Brazil is preparing to commit a “environmental crime”. The ship is currently located some 350 km from the coast, in depths of around 5,000 meters. In…
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