The decommissioned aircraft carrier, which has been on the high seas for three months since Turkey refused to enter European waters for scrapping, will be sunk in the Atlantic Ocean, in waters under the jurisdiction of Brazil, the command of the military said last Wednesday. naval forces of this country, reports today, February 2, Reuters.
The aircraft carrier São Paulo was towed to Europe but did not pass the Strait of Gibraltar and was returned across the Atlantic Ocean after Turkey decided that it posed a danger to the region’s environment.
The Brazilian Navy said in a statement that the ship was gradually taking on water and was at risk of sinking, which is why it was not allowed to enter Brazilian ports.
Despite the request of the Minister of the Environment Marina Silva not to sink the aircraft carrier, the Brazilian Navy said they had no choice but to do so at a depth of about 5,000 meters and 350 kilometers from the coast in Brazil’s exclusive economic zone. It is indicated that the place chosen for flooding is far from nature protection zones and underwater communication cables do not pass through it.
“Given the deteriorating buoyancy and the inevitability of uncontrolled flooding, there is no other way out but to dismantle the hull (vessel) and carry out the flooding in a planned manner,” the Brazilian Navy said in a statement.
South America’s largest country was planning to sink an aircraft carrier as early as last Wednesday, but prosecutors have halted the sinking process in Brazilian waters, citing the environmental threat it poses, including tons of asbestos used to line the inside of the ship. A federal judge, however, denied the regulator’s request for an injunction against the sinking, arguing that the country’s navy weighed the environmental impact with other factors.
The Clemenceau-class aircraft carrier served in the French Navy from 1963 to 2000 under the name Foch, capable of carrying 40 aircraft, before joining the Brazilian fleet under the name Sao Paulo.
