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July 26, 2025 9 mins

In 2002, the oil tanker Prestige broke apart off the coast of Spain, spilling thousands of tonnes of toxic fuel into the Atlantic and unleashing one of Europe’s worst environmental disasters. In this episode, we trace the ship’s final hours, the fateful decisions that led to catastrophe, and the massive ecological and political fallout that followed. It’s a story of rust, risk, and responsibility, with a slick of denial spread across the surface.

Please consider supporting the show by subscribing and leaving a review wherever you get your podcasts, and if you would like to support us more directly, by say, buying us a coffee, then please head on over to compacthistories.com/disastercoffee to see how.  

An article supporting this episode can be found on the website at https://compacthistories.com/disasters/the-sinking-of-the-prestige/

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