Coast Guard scours for 18 missing in tanker explosion

OCEAN CITY, Md. — The Coast Guard today will continue to search for 18 crew members missing since late Saturday when a tanker ship carrying 3.2 million gallons of ethanol exploded off Virginia’s Eastern Shore.

The 570-foot Bow Mariner exploded at about 6 p.m. Saturday and sank 200 feet to the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean, 50 miles off the coast of Chincoteague and Assateague, Va. Virginia’s Eastern Shore is home to the Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge, one of the most visited national wildlife refuges in the country.

Three crew members were killed in the blast; six were rescued from a life raft adrift in the frigid waters three hours later.

“When the rescue divers got on the scene, the fuel tanker was on fire, sinking, and there were people in the water,” said Lt. Chris Shaffer of Ocean City Emergency Services.

With the water temperature at 44 degrees, a person could survive several hours depending on health and survival gear, said Rear Adm. Sally Brice-O’Hara, commander of the Coast Guard’s 5th District. The Coast Guard said, however, that the chances of finding survivors dwindles with each passing hour.

“Realistically, the longer the search goes on, the less likely it is that we will find anyone who is still alive,” Adm. Brice-O’Hara said yesterday.

The rescued crew members were flown to Sentara Norfolk General Hospital. All were treated for condition, including hypothermia and were decontaminated after being found covered with oil.

Three survivors were in good condition at the hospital and three were released yesterday morning, hospital spokeswoman Vicky Gray said. Two Coast Guard workers treated for minor injuries also were released.

“They look like they’ve been through an ordeal and they’re very introspective about what happened,” Miss Gray said of the rescued crewmen, who are Filipinos and did not seem to speak English. “They’re very quiet, subdued, like you would expect.”

The crew members declined interview requests, Miss Gray said.

The Coast Guard will investigate the accident, which occurred in international waters.

A spokesman for the Norway-based Odfjell, the commercial operator and owner of the ship, declined to speculate on the cause of the accident. “We are very grieved about having to report that Bow Mariner has gone down and that many seamen have lost their lives,” company Chairman Dan Odfjell said.

The tanker was traveling from New York to Houston when it made an emergency call just after 6 p.m. that there had been an explosion, Coast Guard officials said.

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