Hello, you're listening to the witness history podcast from the BBC World Service, with me,

Esther Egbeyemi. It's 50 years since the 1973 global oil crisis. This was when the organization

of Arab petroleum exporting countries, known as OPEC, started a Western oil embargo following

American support for Israel in the war against Egypt and Syria. It caused oil prices to rocket.

All this week on Witness History, we're focusing on oil from development to disaster.

Today, I'm taking you back to 1978, when the old tanker Amacoca Diz was wrecked off the coast

of Brittany in northwestern France.

It was the evening of the 16th of March 1978. At the time, I'd always lived in

Prudalmezzo, so I was at home, and at around 10 pm, like everyone else, I was astonished by the

smell of oil. The air was unbreathyble, and I went down to the garage to see if the fuel tank

had exploded or if there was a problem, and there was nothing. I went back upstairs.

That's my great Lamour, who is secretary to Alphonse Arctel, the mayor of a small commune

called Prudalmezzo.

In 1978, there were no social networks. There was no live news, and it was the next morning

that I very quickly got the information. There was a giant oil tanker that had run a ground.

Oil is pouring from the tanker fast to the never. All her tanks are now thought to be

hold, and there's little hope of getting a vessel alongside to pump out what's left.

So far, more than 170,000 tons of oil has poured into the sea,

the worst village in maritime history. The remaining 50,000 tons is expected to have leaked away

by the weekend. More than 70 miles of the French coastline have been polluted,

the French authorities say they have no way of dealing with oil in the hundreds of tiny

and rocky coasts.

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