Dicing with disaster

It's been over a month since the Agia Zoni II tanker went down off the port of Piraeus and beyond the criminal delays of the political leadership and port authorities in dealing with the ensuing oil spill we still have no answers to the questions surrounding the causes of the accident, even though it's only a matter of time before disaster strikes again.

If this small tanker - which is a minnow compared to some of the giants that sail in Aegean waters every day - was able to cause such extensive pollution - with experts speaking about significant damage to the ecosystem and warning against swimming and fishing for months - what would happen if a bigger one sank? The Agia Zoni II was carrying just 2,500 tons of oil, of which an estimated 500-600 tons leaked into the sea. If this were, say, a tanker the size of the Prestige - which went down off the coast of Spain 15 years ago...