[Watch] Authorities View Oleg Naydenov Wreck

Around 120 kilos of fuel has been removed from the Spanish Gran Canaria tourist beaches Veneguera, Tasarte and Taurito, the government said on Thursday, after a Russian fuel-laden ship sank off the coast earlier this month.

The situation on the beaches would worsen over the next few days, the environmentalist group Greenpeace warned in a separate statement.

The Russian vessel Oleg Naydenov, carrying 1,409 tons of fuel oil, sank 15 nautical miles south of Gran Canaria, and is currently leaking 5 - 10 liters of fuel into the sea per hour, according to the Spanish government.

The Public Works Ministry has sent an ROV down to the wreckage, some 2.4 kilometers deep, to see if the three known leaks in the hull of the ship can be sealed, the government said.

Greenpeace has criticized authorities for towing the burning fishing vessel out to sea after it caught fire. 

The organization has also reported that the vessel was caught fishing illegally in Senegal by the Greenpeace ship Arctic Sunrise in March 2010 and again in February 2012.