Czech volunteers return from clean-up of Spanish contaminated coastline

Many of you will recall the sinking of the Prestige oil tanker just 200 kilometres off the coast of Galicia in northwest Spain last November. Thousands of tonnes of oil leaked into the sea, killing hundreds of birds, turtles and dolphins. Many of the area's fishermen are now unemployed, and a 2,900-kilometre stretch of the coastline has been devastated. To assist in the clean-up work, the Czech Republic's People in Need Foundation sent 45 volunteers to Galicia. After two weeks scraping oil off rocks in harsh weather conditions, the biggest non-Spanish group of volunteers returned home on Sunday. Dita Asiedu spoke to Mariana Serrano, one of the group's co-ordinators:

"We woke up at seven o'clock in the morning and were supposed to get to the beach at eight thirty. We worked with the co-ordinators of the beaches, the sailors from Galicia and the city we lived in. So far, we don't know what the crude oil really contains. It can be quite toxic as it's supposed to contain heavy metals so it was a little bit risky. We therefore wore three overalls to protect ourselves, big plastic boots and also had to wear masks and plastic gloves. We used scrapers to get the crude oil off. When a day finished, we had dinner and were free for the rest of the evening."

After two weeks of clean-up work, do you feel that you've helped to make a difference or is there still a lot of work ahead?

"There is still a lot of oil. The problem is that a lot of oil is still leaking from the Prestige tanker so you clean up part of the beach one day and, when you come back the next day, see it's even worse than before. That was always a tough moment as it feels like there is nothing you've done."

Is the People in Need Foundation planning any more such projects for Spain?

"The foundation is looking for the resources to pay for another excursion to Galicia. At the moment, there are still a lot of people who would like to help and there is a large number of volunteers who would like to go back."