Whiddy Island
| Whiddy Island | ||
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| Waters | Atlantic Ocean | |
| Geographical location | 51 ° 41 '20 " N , 9 ° 30' 6" W | |
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| length | 5.5 km | |
| width | 2 km | |
| surface | 4.169 km² | |
| Highest elevation | 50 m | |
| Residents | 20th (2011) 4.8 inhabitants / km² |
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Whiddy Island ( Irish : Oileán Faoide ) is an island in front of the town of Bantry at the end of Bantry Bay, in County Cork in Ireland . It is about 5.5 km long and 2 km wide. Offshore, Whiddy Island shields the port of Bantry from the sea. The island is approached by a ferry from Bantry Pier.
As recently as 1880, the island had a resident population of around 450, who lived mainly from fishing and small-scale agriculture. Currently the population consists of 20 people (as of 2011), but there are many tourists in the season.
During the last two months of World War I , US aircraft were stationed on the island.
Betelgeuse or Whiddy Island disaster
Large ships and super tankers can anchor in the port. There is a large oil terminal on Whiddy Island. On January 8, 1979, the French tanker Betelgeuse exploded there . The event went down in the annals as the “Betelgeuse Disaster” or “Whiddy Island Disaster ”. 50 people were killed in the accident, and the impact on the environment was enormous. Although the tanks remained undamaged, the oil port was initially closed. Today the tanks are again in operation as intermediate oil storage (status 2007).
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Table No. 11 Population of inhabited Islands off the coast, 2006 and 2011 . In: Central Statistics Office (Ed.): Population Classified by area . Dublin 2012, pp. 132-133 ( PDF file; 3.64 MB ( memento of October 10, 2012 in the Internet Archive ))