A Spanish government scientific committee has now recommended that the remaining 13 holes be patched. The announcement came just as a third slick from the Prestige reached the shores of north-west Spain on Wednesday.
Fresh patches of oil have been found along parts of the Galician coastline where earlier slicks had hit.
The Prestige broke in two and sank after having been towed further out to sea on November 19. Oil has continued to pour out of its shattered hulk on the seabed. Before the Prestige sank, an estimated 20,000 tonnes of its cargo of 77,000 tonnes of heavy fuel had already leaked into the sea.
