This week's oil tanker disaster off the coast of Spain could happen here despite Bermuda's best efforts to avoid it, local experts agreed yesterday.

The Bahamas-registered Prestige sank 130 nautical miles off northwest Spain on Tuesday, six days after it was holed, causing slicks that blackened the coastline.

The Prestige sinking has sparked the European Union's top transport official to urge an immediate ban on the use of single-hulled tankers to transport oil in European waters.

Harbour Radio said single hulled ships passed Bermuda infrequently and such a ship called The Green Island threatened Bermuda's environment when it lost part of its side below the water line off Bermuda through steel corrosion in 1999.

Rescue coordination centre controller Scott Simmons said: "That was not unlike the Prestige."

Director of Environmental Protection Dr. Tom Sleeter said the Island was far better prepared than in the mid 1980s when fully laden oil super tanker Anguilla Azteca jammed itself on North Rock but luckily was not breached despite being stuck for three weeks.

He said: "Tankers go by every week. We are always at risk. We just hope it never happens.

"The Anguilla Azteca would have been a much larger disaster than the Spanish disaster. There was enough oil to cover 15 times the reef area of Bermuda.

"There was enough oil to get into every nook and cranny a metre thick. The tropical storm in the area which had 45 knot winds would have blown the oil on roads and roofs."

Mr. Simmons said the Spanish authorities had radar equipment at least equal to that of Bermuda but the disaster happened further out to sea beyond the reach of the radar and was still able to cause massive environmental damage.

Mr. Simmons said his team did a good job of keeping commercial ships over 1,000 tonnes out of the 15-16 mile exclusion zone which rings the island.

The zone, known as the Area to be Avoided, was set up 15 years ago by the International Maritime Organisation.

He said: "Obviously there is a risk. Not just from tankers carrying oil as cargo but good size ships carrying sufficient fuel for themselves could cause pollution."

About 300 commercial ships pass within 40 miles of the Island every year but he said one or two ships crossed the exclusion zone every year.

Marine Police will then rush out to head off tankers which ignore radio warnings to stay away. Beacons which are checked every four hours by Harbour Radio also warn off stray ships.

He said the lessons of the Spanish disaster showed it was management not technology which was key.

Dr. Sleeter said early response was vital and the back materials could reach the Island from America within 12 hours for a major disaster.

The Island also has a one and a half mile boom which could be used to ward off slick.

He said: "It would be nice to have more but it is very expensive.

"In incidents like that you use current and tide information to predict which beach or harbour to use the boom at.

"You might use one bay as a sacrificial bay."

The Island also has ocean going tugs which could be used to divert a stricken vessel threatening Bermuda.