The green protesters said today although the UK Government "acted quickly to stop the breaking of the so-called ghost ships from the US" it has allowed Royal Navy vessels to end up in the Third World.

The charity highlighted three vessels, HMS Intrepid, HMS Olna and HMS Olwen.

It said the Intrepid was thought to be bound for a foreign scrapyard, a move it condemned as illegal, and the Olna and the Olwen were sold to a German scrapping company and ended up on the beaches of Alang in India, a notorious ship-breaking scrapyard with few environmental safeguards which employs children.

Blake Lee-Harwood, campaigns director for Greenpeace in the UK, said: "The Government and Environment Agency are behaving like complete hypocrites - taking urgent action to stop foreign ships being broken in the UK while simultaneously allowing the Ministry of Defence to export contaminated ships to countries with lower environmental standards.

"Britain should look after its own toxic ships or clean them up and export them as uncontaminated scrap.

"It's completely unacceptable that Royal Naval ships end up being broken by barefoot children with lump hammers in the Third World rather than dismantled using state of the art technology."

A spokesman for the Royal Navy said: "Bids have been received from ship breakers abroad to buy the former Intrepid. These are currently being considered any transfer will be undertaken in compliance with all necessary UK environment regulations.

"The Olwen and the Olna were sold to a reputable ship breaker who intended to scrap them in Turkey in 2001.

"The Turkish authorities refused entry and before their final sail to India, a small volume of asbestos remaining on board was removed in Greece. The sale complied with international regulations."

Article Link: 'Ghost' fleet hypocrisy accusation