Organization: Central Michigan University
Newsgroups: bit.listserv.seasia-l
Date:         Wed, 27 Jan 1993 08:59:27 EST
From:         Elliott Parker <3ZLUFUR@CMUVM.CSV.CMICH.EDU>
Subject:      ID: Supertanker still on fire

=======================  Forwarded  Message  ===========================
                     Copyright 1993 Agence France Presse
                              Agence France Presse

                                January  21, 1993



HEADLINE: Supertanker still on fire after collision

DATELINE:  JAKARTA

 BODY:
     JAKARTA,  Jan 21 (AFP) - Fire was raging aboard the 250,000-tonne
supertanker Maersk Navigator which collided with another tanker off the northern
tip of Sumatra, its Danish owners A.P. Moller said Thursday.

    The stricken tanker was leaking crude oil from its ruptured tanks and was
being driven out to sea by winds, the captain of a nearby vessel told AFP in
Paris Thursday.

    "It's a real torch, a huge firework," said Maurice Gabiot, captain of the
French tugboat the Provencal in a telephone call to AFP in the French capital.

    The 24 crew of the supertanker abandoned the vessel and were picked up by a
passing merchant ship DSR Atlantic, said Indonesian search and rescue officials.

    Gabiot, whose tug was 15 nautical miles from the Maersk Navigator, added
that the amount of oil leaking from the stricken tanker was "not enormous."

    At 0510 GMT the burning supertanker was 55 nautical miles off Sumatra,
between the islands of Nicobar and Sabang, said the captain of the tug, which is
based in the northern French port of Le Havre.

    The 96,550-ton tanker Sanko Honour had struck the Maersk Navigator midships
and had also caught fire, although its crew had managed to put out the flames
after a five-hour battle, said Gabiot.

    "The extent of hull damage to the Maersk Navigator and possible pollution
has yet to be clarified," said A.P. Moller in a statement issued in Singapore.

    The company said the 254,000 Maersk Navigator was fully laden with crude oil
from the Gulf when it hit the Sanko Honour.

    "Both vessels caught fire and the crew of Maersk Navigator successfully
abandoned vessel and is now safely on board another vessel in the area with no
injuries reported," the statement said.

    "The Maersk Navigator continues to be on fire, whilst the fire on Sanko
Honour has reportedly been brought under control by her crew," it said.

    A.P. Moller said assistance for tackling the blaze was expected to arrive in
the area around midnight local time (1600 GMT).

    In Kuala Lumpur, a spokesman of the Malaysian Maritime Rescue and
Coordination Centre (MRCC) said "We are worried over possible oil spillage."

    Its Indonesian counterpart, Basarnas, which is conducting the rescue
operation, told MRCC that the Maersk Navigator was drifting towards the Great
Nicobar Island, about 50 nautical miles off Aceh province of northern Sumatra.

    Both the Maersk Navigator and Sanko Honour are registered in Singapore and
Singapore marine department officials said they would only provide full
details of the accident at a news conference later Thursday.

    The accident came four months after another oil tanker, Nagasaki Spirit,
collided with a Hong Kong container ship, Ocean Blessing, and spilled part of
its cargo into the congested Malacca straits.

    The accident triggered renewed calls by Malaysia and Indonesia for more
measures to ensure safe navigation in the straits, including an international
conference on safety in the narrow waterway.
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