SPAIN Ria de Arousa (River Arousa) -- 15/12/2002 -- Aerial view of mussel beds in the estuary of the River Arousa on the coast of Galicia

SPAIN Near Punta Faglida -- 15/12/2002 -- Aerial view of a polluted beach near Punta Faglida on the Galician coast. Thousands of volunteers and military personnel are involved in the clean-up operation which could last for six months (pictured as white dots on the beach, oil is black rocks and stains on sand). Thousands of tonnes of heavy fuel oil has contaminated large swathes of the north-western coast of Spain after the tanker Prestige sank in late November 2002. The ship was carrying around 57,000 tonnes of heavy fuel oil and while some has been extracted from the wreck, a lot of the oil has leaked into the sea causing a ecological disaster along much of the southern Atlantic coast of Europe. The cost of the disaster is estimated at over 20 billion Euros. -- Picture © Jon Mitchell / Lightroom Photos