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disaster it became a hive of activity where many birds were showered and cleaned as best as possible. Unfortunately, the life expectancy of a cleaned
Guillemot or Razorbill that was oiled once it was let back into the sea was a very short 9 days. Members of the public also helped rescue the birds. It
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Tugs raced to the rescue, but she became detached several more times from them, and was also hit hard by a storm while still stranded. This pushed her back onto the rocks several times and more oil continued to leak, now at a faster rate. In the end she lost 72,000 tonnes of crude oil.
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was spilt, most of which spread along either the shoreline of
Milford Haven waterway or the coastline to the south. This caused an enormous amount of environmental and aesthetic damage to the coastline and its marine life in an area which lies within the protection of the
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ran aground near to a breeding area for the grey seal, the time of year meant that only a small number of seals were in the area. Although some seals showed signs of oil on their coats, there is no record of a seal dying as a result of the spill.
222:, Britain's third largest oil spillage and the 12th largest in the world at the time, devastated a considerable area of local coastline and killed many birds, and continued to affect the Pembrokeshire coast for years afterwards.
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workers and subcontractors, and wildlife conservationists. There was much speculation in the media at the time over the inherent lack of safety of single-hull tankers, particularly in view of the
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duck. 83% of the birds affected were common scoter birds, and it is estimated that 5,000 of the 15,000 population in the area were killed. The RSPB set up a temporary bird hospital in
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The most visible effect of the spill was seen in the large number of birds covered in oil that were shown on television and in newspapers. Amongst the birds affected were
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the ship was pushed off its course by the current and hit rocks in the middle of the channel, which punctured her starboard hull causing oil to pour out into the bay.
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was later revealed in a study by the
British Trust for Ornithology that the average survival time for a rescued oiled Auk (Razorbill or Guillemot) was seven days.
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BBC News
Summary: Disaster strikes... The ship's cargo of 130,000 tonnes of crude North Sea oil started to spill into the sea.
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MAIB - Report of the Chief
Inspector of Marine Accidents into the grounding and subsequent salvage of the tanker SEA EMPRESS
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It took almost five years for the coastline to be fully cleaned up and restored by the
Pembrokeshire Council,
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Over the first few days of the disaster, an estimated 73,000 tonnes out of the ship's 130,000-tonne cargo of
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to try to treat as many birds as possible. This centre is now a storage area but in the aftermath of the
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that ran aground at the entrance to the
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673:"China Shipping Industry Co page for conversion of 'MV Welwind' from Tanker to Bulk"
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The total cost of the cleanup operation was approximately £60 million
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just three years earlier; the Braer also being a single-hull vessel.
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BBC: In detail: The Sea
Empress disaster Page 7- Counting the cost
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502:. Parliamentary office of Science and Technology. February 1996
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for dismantling in the
Shitakunda ship breaking yard, as
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423:. In 2012, she was renamed for a fifth time and became
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201 kilometers of coastline were covered in crude oil.
411:(FSO) from 2004. In 2009/2010, she was converted in
566:Countryside Council for Wales: Sea Empress Report
548:Swansea University: Sea Empress Oil Spill - Birds
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523:BBC News: Sea Empress - The first few minutes...
721:"Court action follows tanker's second accident"
194:164,156 m (1,003,035.33 imp bbl)
288:. Sailing against the outgoing tide, at 20:07
1125:Environmental disasters in the United Kingdom
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652:"Page for 'Ocean Opal' at shipspotting.com"
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795:Shipwrecks and maritime incidents in 1996
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1115:Maritime incidents in the United Kingdom
589:BBC News: Assessing the oil spill impact
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395:was recovered and subsequently renamed
268:On the evening of 15 February 1996 the
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701:. The Daily Star (Dhaka). 9 June 2012
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32:
409:floating storage and offloading unit
407:to Chinese buyers, who used it as a
723:. Pembrokeshire Herald. 28 May 2015
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13:
630:"Sea Empress 'could happen again'"
284:to discharge its oil cargo at the
174:13,475 kW (18,070.27 hp)
14:
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328:and the worst affected bird, the
310:Pembrokeshire Coast National Park
1105:Oil spills in the United Kingdom
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699:"CPA to remove damaged vessel"
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272:was entering the mouth of the
16:Single-hull Suezmax oil tanker
1:
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150:274.3 m (899.93 ft)
632:. BBC News. 15 February 2006
600:BBC Wales On Air:Sea Empress
225:
166:17.02 m (55.84 ft)
158:43.2 m (141.73 ft)
7:
1085:Shipwrecks in the Irish Sea
497:"The Sea Empress oil spill"
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419:and reflagged to Panama as
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1110:Maritime incidents in 1996
877:September (unknown date):
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888:November (unknown date):
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605:24 September 2010 at the
553:24 September 2006 at the
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27:
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430:While being brought to
259:The location where the
131:General characteristics
55:Oriental Ocean Shipping
1130:Cargo ships of Liberia
571:24 August 2004 at the
970:June (unknown date):
760:BBC News: 10 years on
232:Sea Empress oil spill
220:The ensuing oil spill
1061:51.67833°N 5.16278°W
256:class=notpageimage|
1090:Shipwrecks of Wales
1057: /
756:pembrokeshiretv.com
754:: A Diary Of Events
286:Texaco oil refinery
218:in February 1996.
1066:51.67833; -5.16278
679:on 14 January 2016
452:List of oil spills
296:Short-term effects
207:was a single-hull
186:, single propeller
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677:the original
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470:Exxon Valdez
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440:Hang Ro Bong
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417:bulk carrier
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384:Fate of the
376:disaster in
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1095:Oil tankers
1064: /
947:Sea Empress
908:25–26 Dec:
752:Sea Empress
463:Amoco Cadiz
457:Supertanker
393:Sea Empress
386:Sea Empress
351:Sea Empress
338:Sea Empress
270:Sea Empress
261:Sea Empress
204:Sea Empress
78:6 June 1992
46:Sea Empress
1120:1992 ships
1079:Categories
1049:51°40′42″N
979:USNS
901:Alexandria
891:Lene Marie
839:Pacesetter
823:North Cape
802:Shipwrecks
636:3 December
484:References
432:Chittagong
405:Ocean Opal
399:and later
397:Sea Spirit
326:razorbills
322:guillemots
212:oil tanker
179:Propulsion
105:IMO number
1052:5°09′46″W
998:Hanseatic
986:USS
981:Gilliland
972:USS
961:USS
952:oil spill
727:19 August
683:20 August
657:20 August
506:16 August
305:crude oil
302:North Sea
226:Grounding
1005:14 Dec:
959:17 May:
944:15 Feb:
929:16 Jan:
866:18 Sep:
856:21 May:
846:25 Mar:
836:27 Jan:
820:18 Jan:
603:Archived
569:Archived
551:Archived
446:See also
413:Shanghai
378:Scotland
374:MV Braer
191:Capacity
114:Callsign
83:Acquired
75:Launched
995:29 Aug
932:Avrasya
898:9 Dec:
829:Scandia
813:Calypso
810:8 Jan:
421:Welwind
415:into a
358:Beaches
209:Suezmax
136:Tonnage
116:: 3ETO5
109:8906999
107::
60:Builder
28:History
988:Tucson
869:Sang-O
859:Bukoba
849:Bom Re
705:11 May
436:Wind 3
425:Wind 3
370:Texaco
184:diesel
147:Length
879:HMFS
500:(PDF)
345:Seals
316:Birds
216:Wales
163:Draft
69:Spain
52:Owner
1034:1997
1021:1995
974:Deyo
911:F174
881:Kiro
750:The
729:2015
707:2015
685:2015
659:2015
638:2009
508:2010
391:The
200:The
155:Beam
123:Fate
94:2012
86:2010
42:Name
290:UTC
280:in
202:MV
141:DWT
1081::
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Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Additional terms may apply.
