Brazil prosecutors sue agencies over Haidar shipwreck, environmental risk

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By Ana Mano

SAO PAULO (Reuters) -Brazilian federal prosecutors in Para state have filed a lawsuit to demand the removal of the hull and oily residues from the Haidar ship, which sank 10 years ago near Vila do Conde port, Brazil’s biggest for live cattle shipments.

In a statement on Wednesday, Para federal prosecutors recalled the Haidar wreck caused the death of 5,000 cattle and a spill of 700,000 liters of oily residues.

A subsequent spill from the Haidar wreck was reported in 2018, prosecutors said, showing that remaining residues inside the hull represent “a constant threat.”

Some 215,000 liters of oil, diesel, fuel, and lubricant could still be inside the ship, prosecutors added, warning of potentially “catastrophic water pollution” if new spills occur.

The sunken vessel still contains carcasses and skeletal remains of the cattle drowned in 2015, they said. 

Prosecutors are seeking at least 5 million reais ($936,873) in compensation, in addition to 91,400 reais for environmental damages related to the 2018 spill.

Defendants include the federal infrastructure department DNIT, Para’s environment agency SEMAS, the Para Port Authority CDP, and the companies that owned the ship.

They did not immediately comment on the lawsuit.

Para, Brazil’s biggest live cattle-exporting state, shipped 370,000 head of cattle worth $344 million mainly to Egypt, Morocco, and Algeria in the year through July, according to trade data compiled by state authorities.

Beefpacker Minerva owned the cattle ferried on the Haidar in 2015, but it is not a defendant, according to court filings.       

($1 = 5.3369 reais)

(Reporting by Ana ManoEditing by Rod Nickel)