FACTBOX-Facts about Total's French oil spill trial

Jan 16 (Reuters) - A French court ruled on Wednesday that oil major Total (TOTF.PA) shared responsibility for the 1999 sinking of the tanker Erika, which caused one of France's worst environmental disasters.

Total was fined 375,000 euros ($556,100) and told to pay a share of nearly 200 million euros in damages awarded to civil parties. The court said other organisations could also sue for damages.

Here are some facts on the Erika disaster.

* The Erika, a rusting, Maltese-registered tanker, broke in two and sank in heavy seas in the Bay of Biscay some 70 km off the French coast on Dec. 12, 1999, spilling 20,000 tonnes of toxic fuel oil into the water.

* Its 26 crew were winched to safety by helicopter and its fuel cargo started to sweep ashore almost two weeks later, polluting 400 km of coastline and killing between 60,000 and 300,000 birds -- the largest number of sea birds ever known to have been killed by an oil spill.

* Three months after the spill, a government institute warned that volunteers cleaning birds tarred by the oil slick risked developing cancer and should stop trying to save them.

* Total, which chartered the 24-year-old tanker, denied responsibility for the spill, saying the tanker was certified as seaworthy by an Italian maritime certification company. It also said it spent 200 million euros on the clean up operation.

* Following the disaster, the European Union tightened its maritime rules, improving the inspection of potentially dangerous ships and boosting surveillance of ships along the EU's coast.

* Wednesday's ruling opens the way to compensation claims totalling around 1 billion euros ($1.49 billion) from civil parties including public bodies, environmental groups and businesses like oyster an