Brazil sinks six-decade-old aircraft carrier 'Sao Paulo' in Atlantic, why it got flak from environmentalists?

Environmentalists condemned Brazil for sinking a six-decade-old aircraft carrier “Sao Paulo” in the Atlantic Ocean saying that the ageing warship was packed with toxic materials and will cause destruction to the marine food chain. The decommissioned aircraft carrier was sunk in the ocean late in the afternoon on Friday by the Brazilian Navy after authorities failed to find a port ready to welcome the vessel.

Brazil’s Navy statement called the sinking “planned and controlled" which was at about 350 km (220 miles) off the Brazilian coast in the Atlantic Ocean. The Navy added that the sinking took place in an area with an approximate depth of 5,000 metres (16,000 feet).

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According to environmentalists, the sinking of the warship will harm and pollute the marine food chain as the aircraft contained tonnes of asbestos, heavy metals and other toxic materials that would leach into the water. However, defence officials defended the sinking saying that the vessel was to be lowered down in the safest area.

The move by the Navy also received a strong reaction from Basel Action Network, a charitable non-governmental organisation, which champions global environmental health and justice by catalyzing a toxic-free future.

The Basel Action Network called out newly-elected Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva asking him to immediately halt the "dangerous” plan to scuttle the ship. This comes as Lula, who took office last month, vowed to reverse spike in environmental destruction under former President Jair Bolsonaro.

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A coalition of human rights, labour, and environmental organisations known as the NGO Shipbreaking Platform has referred to Brazil'ssinking of the Sao Paulo as potentially being a "state-sponsored environmental crime."

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The aircraft carrier, known as the Foch by the French military during its 37-year service, was built in France in the late 1950s and cemented its position in 20th-century naval history. In the 1960s, the Sao Paulo took part in France's first nuclear tests in the Pacific, and from the 1970s to the 1990s, it was stationed in Africa, the Middle East, and the former Yugoslavia.

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