1. 1979: Two massive oil tankers collide
Photo: aukevisser
Photo: aukevisser
On this date in 1979, two massive oil tankers collided, spilling more than 280,000 tons of crude oil into the Caribbean Sea. The collision took place just off the island of Little Tobago and at the time was consider the worst oil tanker accident in history. The Atlanitc Empress took the brunt of the impact and started spewing its 275,000 ton payload as well fires breaking out all over the deck of the ship. The captain of the Agean also had fires but the crew was able to put them out fairly quickly. Most of the 200,000 tons on board the Agean was transferred to other vessels without incident, but some managed to leak out when it was towed to Trinidad. Fires on the Atlantic Express raged out of control with multiple explosions making it almost impossible for fire fighters to extinguish the blaze. Finally, after burning for almost two weeks the ship sunk to the bottom of the sea, however the oil slick left behind continued to burn well beyond that.
