Not having regular access to Lloyds List these days, can anybody be more precise as to what grade of oil was on the tanker. If she loaded at Latvia the odds are it would be a lighter distilate, such as Gas Oil or light bunker (fuel oil) If by chance its a heavey distilate the most expedient thing would be to send her deep, fast. The lighter elements would disperse naturally and the residue would congeal, like a heavey tar, and stay with the wreck. On the other hand when the "Braer" went ashore on the Orkneys her cargo of Light Crude dispersed naturally through the action of wind and wave. Obvious reactions are not neccessarilly the correct ones.
The actions of the Spanish Authorities in arresting the master, are not calculated to help. What master is going to risk a Mayday, or request for assistance off the Spanish Coast when he will be refused a port of refuge, and risks jail.
Unfortunately the owners will not serve any jail sentance for him.
In the past the Spanish Navy has been a little trigger happy with derelict ships. I recall one file that passed my desk some years ago, a coaster containing chemicals adrift and damaged off Barcellona in the Mediteranean was sunk by gunfire - The Dons sent the bill for the 5" Bricks to the insurers, it was not paid, and somewhere off Barcellona there is a chemical timebomb waiting to decay.
On Wolfgang's point, a Bahamas Flag of convenience is not the worst by a long way. They do have some inspection standards. That being said the sea can be cruel, and there is a whole list of well found and maintained ships lost in heavy weather - From the "Edmund Fitzgerald" downwards - "Munchen", "Neptune Saphire" the list goes on, with the fate of thier crews small paragraphs in Lloyds List.