Oil, biscuits wash up on beaches in western France

PARIS, Jan 28 (Reuters) Lumps of oil mixed in with packets of biscuits that may have come from a ship grounded off the southern English coast have washed up on beaches in western France, a local official said today.

The pollution could equally have come from a ship that decided to take advantage of the publicity surrounding the stricken cargo ship MSC Napoli and cleaned out its tanks hoping that nobody would notice, the official said.

''Since Friday evening, we noticed quite a significant amount of fuel on the beaches of the Cotes d'Armor,'' said Sylvain Le Berre, a spokesman for the maritime authorities in Brest in the western French region of Brittany.

Some beaches in Finistere area were also affected. The beaches of Brittany are a popular summer tourist destination.

The blobs of oil are around 50 centimetres (19.7 inches) in diameter and often stuck to packets of biscuits, he said.

Samples are being analysed to see exactly where the oil came from and several beaches have been closed.

Scavengers on an English beach made off with motorcycles, wine barrels and other cargo washed ashore after the MSC Napoli was run aground after it was damaged in storms 10 days ago.

REUTERS DKA HT1800