Down It Goes

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Brazil’s navy sunk a decommissioned aircraft carrier this month, prompting intense criticism from officials and environmental groups around the world who said the vessel was packed with toxic materials, including asbestos, Radio France Internationale reported.

Navy officials conducted the “planned and controlled sinking” of the 35,000-ton “Sao Paulo” last week after the aircraft carrier had been floating more than 210 miles off the Brazilian coast in the Atlantic Ocean.

Built in France in the 1950s, the large vessel – first named the “Foch” – took part in the country’s first nuclear tests in the Pacific in the 1960s. The French Navy also deployed it off Africa, the Middle East, and Yugoslavia from the 1970s to the 1990s.

It was eventually sold to Brazil in 2000 for $12 million, even though it needed an $80 million refit that was never done.

Last year, Brazil authorized a Turkish firm to dismantle the aging vessel for scrap metal. But in August, Turkish environmental officials blocked the plan as the ship was being towed in the Mediterranean.

The ship returned to Brazil but authorities did not allow it to dock at any port, citing the “high risk” to the environment.

Environmental advocates and Brazilian prosecutors warned that the ship carried more than 10 tons of asbestos and other toxic material, adding that its sinking could impact marine life and the livelihoods of coastal communities.

But a federal court denied the request, noting that an unplanned sinking could be even worse for the environment or pose a danger to crews.

Non-governmental groups criticized the sinking and accused the Brazilian government of having violated “three international treaties” on the environment. Others called the move “state-sponsored environmental crime.”

The Sao Paulo’s sinking comes a month after leftist President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva took office with pledges to undo the environmental degradation carried out under his predecessor.