Earlier this week, Juergen and I celebrated my 14th birthday with a trip to Malvarossa beach. It was a beautiful sunny day, I was away from my computer and I had just turned 14!! Full of a youthful zest for life, I squealed and ran into the water, completely ignoring the red flags and stepping directly into a nasty, sticky splotch of oil.
Oil?!
On Monday some ship outside of Valencia’s harbor spilled a bunch of oil, which made its way to the beach and stained the feet of anyone who stepped on it. The mess spread all the way down to the beaches of El Saler. There was no real danger to bathers, who continued to swim despite the red flags, but man was it messy. My feet were completely blackened, and if you dared to touch the gunk (as I did before I knew what it was) you came away with oil-slicked fingers. The stuff didn’t come off easily.
I haven’t heard yet if there are going to be any repercussions for the company responsible for this mess — it didn’t sound like it from Levante’s article on the subject (and the reader comments are appropriately indignant).
Thanks a lot, toxic polluters. A kid only gets to turn 14 once in his life.
Odd thing is that there has been already some oil nuggets on Saturday at the beach south of El Saler.