Irene's serenade
The Irenes Serenade was a Greek oil tanker that exploded in the Bay of Navarino on February 23, 1980 , spilling around 100,000 tons of oil.
history
The accident
The tanker Irenes Serenade was on a journey in February 1980 with 102,660 tons of Iraqi crude (Kirkuk Blend) from Syria to Trieste . On February 23, he went to the bay of Navarino to bunker and anchored there. During the bunkering process, an explosion occurred under the ship's forecastle, which set the ship's oil cargo on fire. An oil slick about two miles wide spread from the burning ship. Two men of the crew were killed in the accident, the rest could be saved. The damaged vessel and its surroundings burned for about 14 hours and the tanker sank off the port of Pylos , near the island of Sffektiria , the following morning .
Oil spills
The oil that had leaked inside the bay initially appeared for the most part as viscous combustion residue. More unburned oil rose from the wreck. An examination carried out by divers the day after the sinking showed that the cargo tanks had been broken into and almost emptied. Most of the oil that continued to escape came from the bunker tanks, while smaller residues emerged from the cargo tanks inside the wreck. Areas with an oil-water emulsion formed along the rocky coast of Navarino Bay. Some beaches were oily, in other areas there were large landings of oily seaweed. During the weeks following the accident, small portions of the oil repeatedly came out of the bay and polluted coastal areas that were up to 100 km away. Air monitoring revealed a further 10 to 20,000 tons of oil, which formed an oil slick on the open sea outside the bay. This carpet was left untreated and naturally dissolved.
Cleaning work
The cleaning work primarily focused on removing the burnt oil residue, emulsion and bunker oil from the ship. On the leeward side of the wreck, containment facilities were quickly installed to limit the spread of the oil. The oil was collected from fishing trawlers and on land and collected in more than 50,000 sacks and barrels. However, during the main work, which lasted around six weeks after the accident, thorough cleaning only took place on the beaches that are important for tourists.
The removal and storage of the collected material turned out to be difficult and expensive. It was only after two weeks of cleaning that the authorities were able to agree on a mine site around 100 km away near Megalopoli as a storage site .
After the main cleaning phase, minor work and monitoring of the wreck was carried out. However, since smaller oil leaks occurred again and again, it was decided around a year after the accident to blast the remaining quantities to the surface, which was also successful.