Bow Mariner explosion kills more than twenty

An explosion on board the Singapore-flagged products tanker Bow Mariner on Sunday resulted in three crew dead and a further eighteen missing. While carrying a cargo of 11,000 tonnes of ethanol, the 39,821 dwt vessel suffered an explosion and subsequently sank about 50 nautical miles off the coast of Virginia, USA.

Six of the 27 strong crew were rescued from a life raft by the US Coast Guard three hours after the incident but there is little hope for the missing eighteen due to the low water temperature and the nature of the incident. Many of the crew were asleep at the time of the blast in the early hours of Sunday morning.

The cause of the incident on the Bow Mariner, owned by Norwegian tanker firm Odfjell, is to be investigated by the USCG, thought it is believed that a fire broke out on deck shortly before the explosion.

According to Odfjell, no deficiencies were found on the vessel during an inspection in Vancouver in January last year and during the ship?s last inspection in Philadelphia in October five “insignificant” deficiencies were noted. These were corrected immediately and Class records were clean.