Mega Borg
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The Mega Borg was a Norwegian oil tanker that exploded on June 8, 1990 while being lightened in the Gulf of Mexico .
history
The ship
The single-hull tanker , built in 1975 and then 15 years old , belonged to AS Mosvolds Rederi in Farsund, Norway and sailed under the Norwegian flag. The ship was around 270 meters long, 43.34 meters wide, almost 22.5 meters deep and had a deadweight of 141,006 tons.
Explosion and fire
On the evening of June 8, 1990, the Mega Borg was about 57 nautical miles southeast of Galveston, Texas in the Gulf of Mexico to lighten her cargo of Angolan Palanca crude oil . Alongside the Mega Borg was the smaller Italian tanker Fraqmura . At around 11.30 p.m., an explosion occurred in the Mega Borg's pump room, causing a fire that spread to the engine room. The exact cause of the explosion could never be proven beyond doubt, but it is suspected that a leak in a pump suction pipe first led to gas formation and finally to the explosion. The explosion in the pump room killed the first officer and one sailor. The 5th engineer and a greaser died in the engine room. The Fraqmura was able to break away from the larger ship. The tanker continued to burn for the next seven days, with further explosions occurring. The oil from cargo tank number 4 leaked towards the fire area. During this time, the stern of the Mega Borg dipped steadily deeper and was listed to port. Around 17,000 tons of burning oil flowed into the sea via the stern area. Phillip Embiricos of the International Association of Independent Tanker Owners (Intertanko) named the Mega Borg as a case in which an envelope design presumably prevented the ship from breaking apart, as it had the advantage of better heat dissipation via the external cargo tanks in the event of a fire in the core area of the ship owned.
The fire fighting
The US Coast Guard brought shortly after the explosion, two of their boats to observe their way to the crash site. On the morning of June 9th, the first fire fighting vehicles arrived at the scene of the accident. In total, over 50 private vehicles took part in the measures. More than a dozen so-called skimmers were used. In addition, a Coast Guard aircraft equipped with Side Looking Airborne Radar (SLAR) monitored the scene of the accident. The burning damaged ship was cooled by sea water and the aft ship turned leeward; the fire fighting teams found the fire to be too hot for the use of extinguishing foam. On June 10, an attempt was made to manually close the pump valves to remove food from the fire. Later that day, however, another series of explosions occurred aboard the Mega Borg , adding to the fire. The use of foam in the engine room area could not begin until June 13, which even temporarily smothered the fire. On June 15th the fire was finally extinguished.
Oil pollution
Initially it was assumed that the high drainage of the Sabine and other rivers in the area could keep the leaked oil away from the coast, which initially proved to be true. After the oil slick drifted northwest towards Corpus Christi and passed the ecologically sensitive area of the Sabine Pass by June 18 without hitting land, the southwest coast of Louisiana was polluted for 18 miles after a few days. Other areas such as Holly Beach and Dung Beach in Texas, Peveto Beach in Louisiana, and the Mermentauin River in Louisiana followed suit. In relation to the hazard scenarios set up at the beginning, however, the overall damage was limited.
Whereabouts
The ship was towed in after the fire-fighting work had ended. Around 129,083 m³ of the transported oil remained in the Mega Borg after the fire and was later pumped out. The damaged ship was later sold for demolition. A German steel manufacturer acquired the burned-out ship on July 20, 1990 for 2.4 million US dollars, renamed it Bor for its last voyage and finally had it towed to Karachi for demolition.
Web links
- NOAA report
- Reports the collection of CTX (English)
- Short report of the US Coast Guard (English)
- Report from June 18, 1990 in Der Spiegel
- Pictures of the incident