MT Independenţa

P1

IMO 7621657

The Independenta was a Romanian crude oil tanker that crashed on 15 November 1979 at the entrance of the Bosphorus by the Greek freighter Evriali, exploded and caused an oil spill of approximately 95,000 tons.

History

The ship

The tanker was built in 1978 as the lead ship of a series of five ( Independenta, Unirea, Biruinta, Libertatea and Pacea ) Naval shipyard Santierul in the Romanian city of Constanţa. The keel-laying ceremony took place with the establishment of the first section on 22 July 1976. The baptism was performed on May 27, 1977 by Elena Ceausescu, wife of the Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceauşescu, not burst the projected against the stem of the boat bottle of champagne which was seen as a bad omen. During construction of the tanker was the largest ship ever built in Romania and the largest of the Romanian merchant fleet.

The accident and fire

In November 1979, the Independenta was on their 19th return with a cargo of 95,000 tons of crude oil of the variety Es Sider on a voyage from Libya into the Black Sea. In the night from 14 to 15 November, the ship waited for his pilot, who was to accompany it through the Bosporus. At the time of the collision was, unlike today, for tankers under no obligation to pass the Bosporus only during the day. Also had to be taken during the passage of any pilots or tugs. At 4:35 clock time of the 1970 built- Turkish Greek 10,000 ton freighter Evriali that carried a cargo of about 7400 tons of iron rods collided in the south entrance of the Bosphorus with the tanker. Both ships caught fire. The Independenta had to operate no inert gas system. Inert gas systems were made ​​mandatory only for new buildings from the middle of 1979 and for existing tankers from mid-1983.

Compared 5:20 clock in the morning on November 15, exploded Independenta, with 43 ​​of the 46 crew members of the tanker perished in the flames. Around half a nautical mile from the Port of Haydarpaşa the Independenta O40.99416666666729.007777777778 ran on position 40 ° 59 ' 39 " N, 29 ° 0' 28" aground and burned there, despite some attempts to extinguish the Turkish Navy under further explosions until 14 December. The wreck broke apart and the Navy handed over the management of the case on November 19 to the Director of Marmara district.

Follow

Already on November 17, met experts from the International Tanker Owners Pollution Federation ( ITOPF ) one on the scene. The Turkish government gave the ITOPF staff but no permission to fly over the accident site, which is why all the investigations had to be carried out from a boat. After initially hardly any pollution from the burning wreck was found, the surveyor from the ITOPF left the place on the 27th of November, four days after the explosions on December 6 return. After the fire was finally extinguished by itself, yet an estimated 2,000 tonnes of oil on board the wreck were. Although a larger amount of oil leaked in the weeks after the accident into the water and the Bosphorus and the Port of Haydarpaşa soiled, was the week-long fire with the associated air pollution therefore more prominent point. The fairway through the Bosporus was initially locked and disabled later by the wreck. Only years later was brought from the wreck and scrapped it in Tuzla.

A run against the Greek captain of the Evriali, Alekos Adamapoulos and seven other crewmembers method identified a negligent failure to observe the rules of the road. Seven months after the conviction Adamapoulos was dismissed for a payment of $ 850 penalty.

Since the Independenta by the accident was a total loss, called the owners and operators of the tanker, the Romanian shipping company Navrom, the ship insurers about 10 million U.S. dollars in damages. An underwater survey of the wreck through commissioned by Lloyd 's Register of Shipping divers showed no fundamental design flaws, so that the insurance amount was eventually paid.

Another method of 1986 saw the blame for the collision at the Independenta. Romania had compensation claim of the Greek side back always. Turkey demanded from Romania about $ 200 million for the damage caused and conducted cleanup.