Independența (ship)
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The Independența was a Romanian crude oil tanker that collided with the Greek freighter Evriali at the entrance to the Bosporus on November 15, 1979 , exploding and causing around 95,000 tons of oil pollution.
history
The ship
The tanker was built in 1978 as the type ship of a series of five ( Independența , Unirea , Biruința , Libertatea and Pacea ) by the Șantierul Naval shipyard in the Romanian town of Constanța . The keel was laid on July 22, 1976 when the first section was placed. The baptism was carried out on May 27, 1977 by Elena Ceauşescu , the wife of the Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceauşescu , while the bottle of champagne thrown at the stern of the ship did not burst , which was seen as a bad omen. When it was built, the tanker was the largest ship ever built in Romania and the largest in the Romanian merchant fleet .
The accident and the fire
In November 1979 the Independența was on its 19th return voyage with a cargo of around 95,000 tons of Es Sider crude oil on a journey from Libya to the Black Sea . In the night of November 14th to 15th, the ship waited for its pilot to accompany it through the Bosporus. At the time of the collision, unlike today, tankers were not required to cross the Bosporus only during the day. Also no pilots or tugs had to be taken during the passage. At 4:35 a.m. Turkish time, the Greek 10,000 ton freighter Evriali , built in 1970 and carrying a load of around 7,400 tons of round iron, collided with the tanker at the southern entrance of the Bosporus . Both ships caught fire. The Independența did not have to operate an inert gas system. Inert gas systems were only made compulsory for new builds from mid-1979 and for existing tankers from mid-1983.
At around 5:20 a.m. on November 15, the Independența exploded , killing 43 of the tanker's 46 crew members in the flames. About half a nautical mile from the port of Haydarpaşa , the Independența ran aground at position 40 ° 59 ′ 39 ″ N , 29 ° 0 ′ 28 ″ E and burned there, despite several attempts to extinguish the Turkish Navy, with further explosions until December 14th. The wreck fell apart and the Navy handed over control of the case to the director of the Marmara district on November 19.
consequences
Experts from the International Tanker Owners Pollution Federation (ITOPF) arrived at the scene of the accident on November 17th . The Turkish government did not give the ITOPF personnel a permit to fly over the scene of the accident, which is why all investigations had to be carried out from the boat. After hardly any pollution from the burning wreck was initially found, the ITOPF inspectors left the site on November 27, only to return four days after the explosions on December 6. After the fire finally went out by itself, an estimated 2,000 tons of oil were still on board the wreck. Although a large amount of oil leaked into the water in the weeks after the accident and polluted the Bosphorus and the port of Haydarpaşa, the week-long fire with the accompanying air pollution was therefore the more prominent point. The fairway through the Bosporus was initially closed and later obstructed by the wreck. The wreck was only demolished years later and scrapped in Tuzla .
A proceeding against the Greek master of the Evriali , Alekos Adamapoulos and seven other crew members found a negligent failure to comply with the applicable traffic regulations. Seven months after the conviction, Adamapoulos was released on payment of a $ 850 fine.
Since the Independența was completely lost as a result of the accident, the owner and operator of the tanker, the Romanian shipping company Navrom , demanded about 10 million US dollars in damages from the ship insurer. An underwater investigation of the wreck by divers commissioned by Lloyd's Register of Shipping showed no fundamental construction defects, so that the sum insured was finally paid out.
Another 1986 trial found the Independența to be responsible for the collision . Romania always rejected claims for damages from the Greek side. The Turkey demanded from Romania about 200 million dollars for the damage caused as well as implemented cleanup.
literature
- Constantin Cumpănă: Tragedia navei Independența - cea mai mare catastrofă din istoria navigației maritime româneşti [The tragedy of the Independence ship - the greatest catastrophe in the history of Romanian shipping] , Editura Ex Ponto, Constanța, 2006.
Web links
- History of Independența (Romanian) , (with numerous photos) at marinarii.ro, accessed on December 29, 2018
- Report on the accident (Romanian) , ziuaconstanta.ro
Footnotes
- ↑ Construction list of the shipyard (English) ( Memento of the original dated August 29, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
