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Antonio Muñoz of Ecologists in Action (Ecologistas en Acción) has criticized the Port of Las Palmas for allowing marine fuel to be delivered to the fishing vessel Oleg Naydenov, which later caught fire and sank off the coast of Gran Canaria on Tuesday night.

Speaking to Spanish radio station Cadena Ser, Muñoz pointed out that the Oleg Naydenov was "a vessel with problems and deficiencies that had been reported since 2012".

Muñoz said that, according to The Paris Memorandum of Understanding on Port State Control, the port "should have carried out more thorough checks".

"A similar decision was made as with the Prestige when it sank in Galicia," remarked Muñoz, who criticized the harbour master's office for opting to move the Russian vessel to open water.

"Ecologistas in Action will put together a formal complaint against the port because we believe that it has not acted correctly," said the ecology organization representative.

Meanwhile, Celia Ojeda, Oceans Campaigner for Greenpeace, criticized the Port of Las Palmas for permitting the supply of fuel to the Russian trawler because complaints had already been made about the vessel in Senegal, Gambia and the European Union regarding suspected illegal fishing activities in West Africa.

"It's a Russian pirate ship," she said earlier this week.

Image: Oleg Naydenov