Ethanol tanker explodes off Virginia coast
The Associated Press
February 28, 2004, 10:38 PM EST
CHINCOTEAGUE, Va. -- A tanker carrying industrial ethanol exploded and sank about 50 miles off the Virginia coast Saturday night, the Coast Guard said. At least two of the 27 crew members aboard were killed, and rescue crews were still searching for 19 others.
Six crew members rescued were in critical condition, said Lt. Chris Shaffer of Ocean City (Md.) Emergency Services.The 570-foot tanker flying a Singapore flag made an emergency call just after 6 p.m., saying there had been an explosion on board, said Petty Officer Stacey Pardini of the Coast Guard Atlantic area in Portsmouth, Va.
The explosion occurred after a fire started on the deck of the ship, Shaffer said. He said 19 people remained missing as of 9:45 p.m.
Three helicopters, three Coast Guard boats and a C-130 plane were searching for survivors.
"When the rescue divers got on the scene the fuel tanker was on fire, sinking and there was people in the water," Shaffer said. He said the six people that the Coast Guard recovered were taken to Norfolk Sentara General Hospital were in critical condition.
Pardini said those rescued were taken to hospitals in Maryland and Virginia. Betty Turner, a nursing supervisor at Pennisula Regional Medical Center in Salisbury, Md., said her hospital had been notified about the accident but had not received any crew members by about 9:45 p.m.
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