I was the 3rd mate on another tanker awaiting for this ship to complete discharging cargo, then that would be our turn to discharge the cargo. We monitored their operation and heard thru the VHF radio: "the ship is on fire", "mid ship is on fire" and that were the last thing we heard. We were anchored about 3.5 miles away from the jetty and we have to move the ship to about 7 miles away. We both sailed from Portugal to Bantry bay to discharge our cargo. Really sad to see the whole event.
That's interesting. The inquiry made afterwards was cheated at least to preserve the security manager that wasn't at his work station and non-operative fire equipment on land. So, many of the interrogations lay on the delay between the first alarming signs on board and the explosion. Was there enough time for the crew to be evacuated ? Since all the crew died, they couldn't testify.
@@aidanshaw826 sorry to hear that Aidan I was in Bantry recently my father was 15 and a half when the disaster happened at the main graveyard in Bantry he pointed out a monument which was erected to commerate the whiddy island disaster hard to believe its bee 40 years already
I was in the Navy at the time, on the L.E. Deirdre, we were tied up in Dun Laoghaire when the explosion happened and immediately set sail for Bantry with many crew members left behind, I remember sailing into Bantry bay the next morning and witnessing the huge cloud of black smoke and the ship almost resembling a 'V" as it burned, the placr looked like a war zone, we later escorted a tug towing the for'ard section out to sea and it refused to sink when the seavalves were opened by the tug crew, so we put a few 40mm shells into it to make it sink. Very sad time for all involved.
@hong97229 My father had come out of the Navy in '78 and had found a career in diving, he had the unfortunate job of being in the area at the time of the accident and had to recover the bodies from the water. A very unfortunate affair, may they R.I.P.
My Grandfather was working on the tugboats in Bantry at the time and was called in to help with getting the fire crews and other personnel to the island
My grandfather knew a good number of this ship's crew members, including some of the officers as he had previously sailed with them. That was a horrendous accident, indeed.
