GREENPEACE was accused of putting at risk the lives of oil men and its own activists yesterday after it sabotaged seismic tests in the north Atlantic oil field.

Ten campaigners in three inflatable dinghies shadowed a Texaco-owned vessel as it prepared to detonate an 8km-long stream of explosives.

The captain of the oil ship Pacific Horizon eventually agreed to suspend operations after the activists threatened to jump into the freezing waters close to the explosive devices.

The protest was timed to coincide with Prime Minister Tony Blair's speech to Earth Summit 11 in New York in which he called for a drastic reduction in carbon emissions.

Texaco condemned the stunt and last night accused Greenpeace of putting its own people as well as the crew of the survey ship at risk.

"Activities such as this, which involve launching inflatables into the path of the seismic vessel, the Pacific Horizon, are unsafe and put both the activists and the crew of the Pacific Horizon at considerable risk," said a company spokesman.

The Greenpeace campaign director Chris Rose, on board the MV Greenpeace, which is maintaining the activists on Rockall, said: "Seismic testing is where it all starts. It is the first phase in a process which leads directly to the emission of C02.

"Our own Prime Minister speaking in New York agrees that emissions of C02 from fossil fuels have to be radically reduced.

"How then can he encourage the search for yet more oil? It is not just hypocritical to do so, it is incredible. The stupidity of it defies belief."

The environmental group's ship approached the Pacific Horizon before lpm yesterday and asked the crew to stop what they were doing.

When the captain refused, its three fast inflatables were launched from MV Greenpeace with a radio warning that activists would put themselves in danger and take to the water close to them if the air gun-type devices and recording equipment, used as part of the testing, were fired.