Real Life Incident: Chemical Tanker Becomes A Total Loss As 12 Crew Abandon Ship Before Explosion

A chemical tanker was on passage in ballast, having discharged its cargo of ethanol. At about 1725, the officer on watch in the engine control room noticed smoke coming from behind a fluorescent light fitting. As a precaution, the generator and main engine were stopped while the crew searched the engine room for the source – but no fire was found.

Shortly afterward, smoke was seen coming from the port side of the accommodation. It was found to be emanating from the laundry room; smoke was escaping from around the door, and the door itself was hot to the touch. The fire spread very rapidly through the accommodation. Crew attempted to fight the fire in fire fighting kit, but could not get close to the seat of the fire due to dense smoke.

To complicate matters, because the generator had been shut down, the fire pump could not be run. The emergency fire pump, located in the steering gear room, could not be used either, as that space had filled with dense black smoke, preventing access. All fire hoses were therefore useless.

With firefighting effectively impossible, the Master ordered abandon ship. A distress call was broadcast and all 12 crew abandoned safely into the lifeboat without injury. Minutes after the crew cleared the vessel, flames reached the bridge structure, and explosions occurred. The crew were recovered about an hour later by a passing containership and transferred to a Coast Guard vessel.

This story was originally published by Marine Insight. Read the full story at Marine Insight →