MV Drawa

MV Drawa was a 1958-built, -long Polish coastal trading vessel. It was owned by Polska zegluga morska and was registered in Szczecin.

On 3 March 1964 the ship with a cargo of phosphorus and benzene caught fire north of Vlieland, the Netherlands. It was towed to a sandbank where it burned down, slippled off and sank a day later. The crew members were rescued, with some having severe burns.

Up to 30 years after the fate of the ship, accidents occureed with bathers suffering severe to very severe burns due to phosphorus balls that washed up on the beach.

Ship details
The ship was built in 1958 by Gdańska Lenina in Gdańsk, Poland and its engine by Crossley in Manchester, United Kingdom. The ship had an steel hull, measured  by  and had a draught of . She was assessed at 480 BRT. The ship had an 8-cylinder 2 stroke diesel engine, a single shaft and one screw.

Fate
In March 1964 the ship was on voyage from London to Szczecin with a cargo of phosphorus and 20 tons of benzene in barrels. At 16:15 (local time) on 3 March 1964 at , 12 miles north of Texel, the barrels of benzene exploded and the ship caught fire. It was reported the flames were more than 20 meters high. All 13 crew members got off the ship into lifeboats. Twenty minutes later they were picked up by the Polish MS Monte Casino. Some crew members had severe burns.

Hours after the accident, tugs Holland and later also Doggersbank from Terschelling tried to put the fire out but failed. Submarine hunter Limburg and hospital ship De Hoop also responded, but were unable to do anything. While still burning, the ship was towed. Reaching , a sandbank off the Vlieland coast, the ship sank after it was burned down. Days after the accident it was reported that it was very unlikely to salvage the wreck.

Aftermath
Wreck
At low tide the tops of the masts were visible above the water. Divers who went to the ship during the 1980s found out that there was little left of the wreck. It was broken up and pieces of the ship were scattered far apart.

Phosphorus accidents
In the decades following the sinking of Drawa, phosphorus continued to escape from the wreck and phosphorus balls washed up on the beach. When it comes into contact with oxygen, Phosphorus ignites. 

In 1970 a German tourist had put a phosphorus ball in his pocket, mistaking it for a beautiful stone. The glowing phosphorus set his clothes on fire and he suffered third-degree burns to his right thigh, abdomen and right hand. After being treated by a local doctor, he was taken to hospital by ambulance. In the following years, pieces of phosphorus kept washing up, causing burns to bathers. In March 1974, the city council requested action to combat the phosporus. However, still during the mid-1990s, accidents occureed with bathers suffering severe to very severe burns due to the phosphorus.

References

Category:1958 establishments in Europe
Category:Transport in Poland
Category:Shipwrecks
Category:20th century in the Netherlands
Category:1964 in Europe
Category:Fires in Europe
Category:Transport disasters in Europe