The death ships
The Clemenceau, that saw service in the 1991 Gulf War, started its journey on December 31, 2005, from Toulon, after a French court allowed it to leave the shores of France in spite of the controversy hounding it. Five tugboats pulled the enormous vessel out of the harbour, forming a cordon to protect the operation from protesters.
The Clemenceau was to be dismantled in Alang. Apart from its steel, its other contents -- like the 50 or so tonnes of asbestos (estimates vary between 50 and 1,000 tonnes) -- that it will also yield that put it in the eye of a storm.
Image: The decommissioned French nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, the Clemenceau parked in Toulon on December 29, 2005.
Also See: Pongal: Harvest of hope