Will Foch, which has become São Paulo since it was sold to Brazil in 2000, finally end up in the abyss? Clémenceau’s sister aircraft carrier will never be a luxury hotel on the high seas, not a sailor training center and it will not even be dismantled. After Turkey’s refusal to deconstruct it in one of its ports due to the high risk of uncontrollable contamination, Brazil plans to torpedo it and let it sink in the Atlantic Ocean.
The wandering of this marine giant, 266 meters long and 30,000 tons, has lasted for many months. Bought by a Turkish scrap dealer, it will never reach the destination it was towed to. It was refused entry into Turkish territorial waters due to the environmental risk posed by the harmful materials it contains. According to the NGO Ban Abestos France, only 12% of the ship has been studied. In fact, it would contain 600 tons of asbestos, 170 tons of potentially radioactive lead/cadmium paint, as well as amounts of still-contaminated wiring and tanks.
Return to sender who also did not let it near its shores for fear that it would be abandoned for months, even years. Brazil has therefore denied it access to its ports, be they civilian or military, and now plans to sink it in the mid-Atlantic with its toxic contents.
environmental disaster
Nothing has been done yet. The environmental defense association BAN (Basel Action Network) now fears a gigantic environmental disaster and accuses Brazil of violating three international treaties: “the Basel rules (article 8) by refusing to require the ship to dock, the Protocol of London Convention on Marine Pollution from Dumping of Waste and Other Matter and the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants”.
The project to sink the ship is now on hold. In response to concerns from a federal environmental agency, Brazil’s attorney general has filed a civil lawsuit against the navy, asking a federal court to order an immediate halt to the plan to sink the ship. Pending a decision, the ex-Foch whose career began in 1963 remains off the Brazilian coast until a state agrees to dismantle it. NGOs have given it the nickname “the ship of death”.
Source: BFM TV
