Organization: Central Michigan University
Newsgroups: bit.listserv.seasia-l
Date:         Wed, 27 Jan 1993 09:01:55 EST
From:         Elliott Parker <3ZLUFUR@CMUVM.CSV.CMICH.EDU>
Subject:      ID: Chopper on burning tanker

=======================  Forwarded  Message  ===========================
Subject: News: Pilot Puts Helicopter Down on Burning Tanker

                      Copyright 1993 Kyodo News Service
                            Japan Economic Newswire

                            JANUARY  22, 1993, FRIDAY


DATELINE: SINGAPORE, Jan. 22 Kyodo

   An Indonesian helicopter pilot who flew a team of salvage experts to a
burning supertanker which is drifting and spewing oil in the waters off northern
Sumatra said Friday the oil slick and the fire on the tanker are small.

   Arthur Massie, who was transporting four salvage experts sent by a towage
company in Singapore to assess the damage on the Maersk Navigator, said he
landed his helicopter directly on the burning ship after a one-hour aand 10
minute journey from Bandar Aceh in northern Sumatra.



   'I could already see a lot of black smoke from a distance of 10 nautical
miles away from the vessel and when we aproached we could see the ship on fire,'
he told Kyodo News Service by telephone from Bandar Aceh.

   He said a thin blue-black film of oil covered the sea about one to two
nautical miles around the tanker which was still on fire when his helicopter
reached the site at around 3:30 p.m. Friday (Indonesian time).

   'It was a huge ship but the fire was not big.  I couldn't see the whole ship
because half of it was covered by smoke.'

   He said he landed his chopper for less than five minutes on the front part of
the vessel, which was safe from the fire, to leave the four men from the salvage
team there before flying back to Bandar Aceh.

   He said the salvage team had been sent to help tow the tanker back to toward
Bandar Aceh.

   The Maersk Navigator, which collided with the Japanese-owned Sanko Honour oil
tanker at 3:00 a.m. Thursday about 60 kilometers north of Bandar Aceh had
drifted to some 100 kilometers northwest of the Sumatran coast when he
approached the ship.

   The collision sparked a fire on the Maersk Navigator which was then carrying
more than 250,000 tons of light crude oil from Oman to Japan, and caused an oil
leakage from one of the vessel's 12 fully loaded cargo tanks.

   'Everything was OK on the front part of the ship,' Massie said.  'But there
was fire on the port side in the middle of the vessel and a lot of smoke in the
back of the ship near the crew's accommodation.'

   He said the oil slick did not look serious.  'There was some oil spill but
not so big.  From the helicopter, I could see the oil was covering a big
area...only about one or two nautical miles in length.  It looked like a
black-blue blanket,' said Massie, who is an employee of  Indonesia's  Pelita
Air, whose helicopter is being chartered by Singapore-based Smit Tuck Towage.

   The weather was good at the time, with slight rain, but the sea was not so
calm and there were strong winds, though visibility was good.

   Two tugboats were spraying the ship with water while a third one was standing
nearby.
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