The tanker Andros Patria of the United Shipping & Trading Company of Greece from Piraeus was on a journey in December 1978 with 208,000 tons of Iraqi heavy crude from Charg to Rotterdam . Around 6:20 p.m. on December 31, the ship developed a crack in the outer skin in the bad weather off Cape Finisterre , through which oil leaked. About two hours later, an explosion occurred in the ship's cracked tank 3, which set the ship's oil cargo on fire. The ship initially requested that the crew be retrieved by helicopter, but 34 of the 37 people on board, including the captain, his wife and her two-year-old son and parts of the crew, soon left the ship in a lifeboat. The boat capsized in the heavy seas, killing everyone. The remaining three people on board were rescued by helicopter a day later. On January 4, 1979, a rescue team came on board the ship and the damaged vessel was later towed. Because Spain, Portugal, France and Great Britain refused to allow the shipper to sail into their territorial waters, the Andros Patria was towed to the sea area south of the Azores and the remaining cargo was released at sea by February 9, 1979. After that, Portugal allowed the now empty tanker to be brought to Lisbon. On arrival in Lisbon, the insurers declared the ship a constructive total loss. The Andros Patria was sold for demolition and scrapped in Barcelona on June 19, 1979.
Oil spills
Around 50,000 tons of oil leaked out, which due to the bad weather did not form an oil slick on the open sea. The oil that leaked out was chemically treated and naturally dissolved.
literature
George M. Foustanos: Kings of the Oceans - Ships built for the Hellenes 1967-1970 , Argo Publishing and Advertisement, Piraeus, 2003, ISBN 960-85845-6-6 , p. 338.
