Communities along the coast of northern Spain fear an environmental disaster as millions of tiny plastic pellets wash ashore after falling from a ship.
More than 1,000 sacks of pellets, known as nurdles, are believed to have fallen from the Toconao, operated by Danish company Maersk, on 8 December.
Hundreds of volunteers have been working to clean up the spill in the north-west Galicia region.
The alarm has also been raised on the Asturias coast, further east.
As many as six containers are believed to have fallen from the Liberian-flagged Toconao some 80km (50 miles) west of Viana do Castelo in northern Portugal. Of these, one contained at least 26,000kg of pellets, while the others were carrying goods such as clingfilm, tyres and tomato sauce.
Dozens of coastal communities have seen a “white tide” of pellets gradually washing up ashore since 13 December.
– https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-67921088