Aegean Sea (ship)
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The Aegean Sea was an oil tanker flying the Greek flag that ran aground, broke and capsized on December 3, 1992 off the Spanish city of A Coruña .
In a heavy storm, the tanker anchored in the waiting area of the port of A Coruña near the town of Betanzos . Due to the weather, it was impossible for the port pilot to get on board, but the ship was nevertheless requested to call into port to unload the cargo.
While approaching the port, the ship ran into an underwater reef, broke in two parts and caught fire, the front part sank. Except for about 2,200 t in the rear remaining part, the cargo of 79,000 t of light crude oil ran into the sea. As a result, there was an oil spill on the coast over a length of around 300 km.
In another storm, the stern was carried onto the cliffs below the Torre de Hércules lighthouse . In 1999 the remains were dismantled and disposed of.