ANKARA, Sept 7 (AFP) - Environment Minister Osman Pepe speculated Tuesday that a ship which sank in Turkish waters overnight with a cargo of toxic waste might have been scuttled to prevent it returning to Spain.
Noting that the vessel had been moored off the port of Iskenderun in southeastern Turkey for four years, Pepe told reporters that "in my soul and my conscience" he wondered whether "this incident could have been the result of sabotage".
Earlier, the official centre for maritime disasters here said the MV Ulla, registered in the Caribbean island of Saint Vincent, had sunk with 2,200 tonnes of ash from coal-fired power stations in Spain.
The centre warned shipping to steer clear of the Gulf of Iskenderun and issued a statement that "it is forbidden to dive, fish or eat dead fish from the area."
It said it was unclear if the cargo was leaking but that it contained enough cancer-causing heavy metal to contaminate more than 300,000 tonnes of water.
Pepe, who was visiting Aksaray, in central Turkey, told reporters that before the ship sank, an agreement had been reached to return the cargo to Spain under the UN`s Basel Convention on the Transport of Hazardous Waste.
A restraining order on the vessel`s movements "had just been lifted thanks to an agreement signed with the Spanish government," he said.
"Why should a ship which had been waiting for four years suddenly sink just as it was about to sail for Spain?" he asked.
He added that Turkey would hold the Spanish government financially responsible for any damage to the environment.
But the Turkish branch of the environmental lobby group Greenpeace said it had issued repeated warnings since 2000 that the ship was at risk of sinking and that its cargo was a potential source of serious pollution.
The ship sailed to Turkey when Algeria, its original destination, refused to take delivery of its cargo.