An arrival of fuel oil almost erased by the reflux in Vierville

One Friday, a brownish layer of fuel oil stained the rough sea in the Bay of Omaha, more strongly to the west and Vierville. On more than two kilometers of beach, hydrocarbons and small debris from the offshore were deposited on the strike.

The proximity of the Torrey-Canyon oil spill was all the more worrying as, for eight days, the north wind had been pushing the currents from England towards Normandy. Mr. Hardelay, mayor of Vierville, inspected the place towards the Pointe de la Percée with Chief Warrant Officer Dufour, interim commander of the Bayeux gendarmerie company, the Chief Marshal Frostin and the Trévières gendarmes. Representatives of the Civil Protection and the head of the department's rescue centers also came on site.

No intervention was finally decided: the reflux had almost entirely taken over the fuel oil. Some boards, projected up to the dike, and tar balls glued to the pebbles remained visible.

The cut emphasized that this was not the first pollution of its kind. It finally considered a discharge on the high seas by an oil tanker more likely than a new arrival from Torrey-Canyon, without establishing this origin with certainty.

Archive image: https://vierville.cordelle.eu/Photos2008/1967-Mazout28-29avril67.jpg