BRITS heading on holiday have been warned over a "ticking timebomb" Spanish beach which could be turned into a "dead zone" by a dangerous shipwreck.

The situation at the popular hotspot Port de Pollensa in Mallorca has been described as "delicate" after fuel leakage from a ship that sank in the bay was spotted.

The Port de Pollensa council confirmed the spillage happened over Friday and Saturday as the bad weather caused the protective barrier to break.

The leak site is located near the Yacht Club, just a stone's throw away from the beach.

The councilor for the Environment of the Pollença town hall Steffy Pozo admitted the situation is "delicate" and told El Diario de Mallorca she has spent hours trying to deal with the issue.

She explained: "At the moment we have not found the owner, to whom we have to send a liability request to remove it."

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She added that she plans to meet with residents during the week to try to identify the owner of the boat.

She confirmed there is no spillage at the moment but admitted that the ship had started leaking fuel on Friday after the barrier was dislodged.

She said: "A sailor assured that he had seen the spill" before adding that "the risk still exists", and the barriers "are not the definitive" solution. 

The ship which "had been anchored illegally for years," according to marine conservation group Arrels Marines, sank in the bay last month.

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The group tweeted: "This ship had been illegally anchored for years, and Costes has not taken care of it.

"Then, ecological disasters happen: the oils and diesel from this boat add to the party of pollution of our waters.

The marine conservation group previously raised the alarm over the worrying situation at the bay, branding it a "dead zone."

A report on the environmental state of the waters last year found that part of the problem of increasing pollution was"excessive pressure from boats."

While the contamination should not have reached the beach, Pozo said that the Moll Residents Association claimed that "some tourists had complained of a strong smell of diesel."

But it turned out it was a false alarm, emergency services, and the police confirmed as well as the staff of the Yacht Club.

It is not the first time, illegal mooring at the port has caused problems in the bay.

Last month an emergency operation was launched after there was fuel spillage fuel from two boats and a jet ski that sank.

A red flag was raised as schoolchildren who were at the Albercuix beach at the time had to rush out of the water.

The city's mayor Tomeu Cifre told Mallorca Bulletin that it could be the result of a "mooring scheme"

He said: "There are people who put out buoys and charge for mooring.

"When we arrived, it turned out that the vessels had been sunk. They had open fuel and oil caps."

It comes as another popular holiday destination was described as a "ticking time bomb" amid fears of toxic waste being released into the sea.

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Local campaigners told The Sun Online that the beautiful Greek destination of Santorini is "heading for disaster" in a major row over a disintegrating shipwreck.

While the beauty spotShipwreck – or Navagio in Zante has also been shut amid fears its crumbling cliffs could collapse.

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