March 1, 2004
By Steve Stone, The Virginian-Pilot
Photo: The 570-foot tanker Bow Mariner, which exploded and sank Saturday night off Virginia's Eastern Shore. (Photo: Bergens Tidende, Bergens Norway)
Hope is fading today that any of 18 missing crewmen from a commercial tanker that exploded and sank Saturday night off Virginia's Eastern Shore will be found alive.
Only six of the 27 crewmen -- 24 Filipinos and three Greek nationals -- have been rescued. The survivors were flown to Norfolk for treatment. Three others who were recovered were either dead or died shortly after being found.
The 570-foot Bow Mariner was laden with 3.5 million gallons of industrial ethanol and about a quarter million gallons of diesel fuel when it was wracked by a blast shortly after 6 p.m. Saturday.
It sank quickly about 58 miles east of Cincoteague, the Coast Guard said.
Authorities on Sunday said there is no evidence that the explosion was anything other than an accident.
All have thus far declined to speak with reporters.
"They look like they've been through an ordeal," Vicky Gray, a hospital spokeswoman, said. "They're very quiet."
All six are Filipino. They were able to call relatives in the Philippines and let them know they had survived.
The Philippine embassy in Washington also was working to assist the survivors and was in contact with relatives of the missing crewmen.
The Greek embassy was handling communications with the families of its nationals.
Two Coast Guardsmen, a rescue swimmer and a helicopter mechanic, also were treated at Norfolk General and later released. Two more Coast Guardsmen were treated for minor injuries at a Maryland hospital.
The three dead men were taken to shore in Maryland. Initially, one of them had been reported en route to Norfolk, but after he died he was not sent here.
Photo: The Bow Mariner, a 570-foot (170-meter), 39,000-ton Singapore-flagged vessel sailing from New York to Houston is seen in this infrared video sinking off the Chincoteague coast in eastern Virginia, February 28, 2004. The U.S. Coast Guard (news - web sites) searched frigid waters off the Virginia coast February 29 for 18 missing crew after the chemical tanker carrying 11,000 tons of industrial ethanol exploded, killing at least three. The Coast Guard said three crew died and six others were saved after the tanker sank Saturday evening 50 miles (80 km) from the Virginia shore. FOR EDITORIAL USE ONLY REUTERS/U.S. Coast Guard/Handout
A large search by air and sea continued overnight and into Sunday.
"We're going to search as long as it's reasonable and hope they're alive," said Krys Hannum, a Coast Guard spokeswoman.
It was unlikely the search would continue past sunset Sunday, however, Coast Guard officials said.
Water temperatures in the area were about 45 degrees, leaving little hope that anyone in the water might have survived, even if floatation gear.
At least some of the crew were reported to have been in their quarters, asleep when the explosion occurred. It's unclear if they were able to make it to the deck.
Rescue boats in the area found a burned life raft and singed life vests among the debris floating on the Atlantic where the ship went down.
"Quite frankly, things don't look good out there," Lt. Buddy Dye, a Coast Guard spokesman in Portsmouth, said Saturday night.
The Bow Mariner, built in 1982 and sailing under a Singapore flag, was en route from New York City to Houston, the Coast Guard said.
There were reports that a fire had brok out on deck prior to the explosion. There was only a single distress call from the vessel, just after the blast.
The large vessel foundered quickly.
Although Coast Guard aircraft were on the scene shortly after the call for assistance came, they found the ship already slipping below the surface.
Diesel fuel trailed from the stricken craft and rescue crews on the surface reported intense fumes from both the diesel fuel and the ethanol.
It was unclear how much of the volatile ethanol that was not vaporized in the blast or burned off by fires remained in the sunken ship. The Coast Guard was monitoring the environmental impact.
Hazardous materials teams from the Norfolk fire department assisted medical personnel in decontaminating the men, some of whom were heavily coated in diesel fuel.
After they were thoroughly washed down, they were bundled in blankets and rushed into the emergency room for evaluation and treatment.
Two HH-60 helicopters and a C-130 search aircraft from the Coast Guard air station in Elizabeth City, N.C., and a Coast Guard HH-65 helicopter from Atlantic City, N.J., were assisting in the search.
They were aided by two 87-foot patrol boats and a 47-foot boat from Coast Guard stations on the Eastern Shore.
Numerous commercial fishing vessels also were patrolling the area.
Nine crewmen were pulled from the Atlantic by the crews of rescue craft and then transferred to Coast Guard helicopters. There was no sign of the other 18.
"Debris in the water is making it more difficult for rescue crews to find people in water," said Senior Chief Petty Officer John Moss, a Coast Guard spokesman. "There are a lot of vapors in the air in that area, and that is creating some challenges for the searchers."
The Bow Mariner was managed by a Greek company, Ceres Hellenic Shipping Enterprises Ltd., based in Bergen, Norway.
The Coast Guard will be the lead agency in the investigation of what brought about the Bow Mariner's demise.
The vessel went down in international waters, but authorities in Singapore who would have had jurisdiction, given that the ship sailed under their flag, agreed Sunday to have the Coast Guard lead the probe.
Ethanol, also known as ethyl alcohol or grain alcohol, is flammable. It's used in perfumes, paints and tinctures and as a fuel as well as in variety of industries.
Reach Steve Stone at 446-2309 or steve.stone@pilotonline.com
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