TANKERS BLAZING IN N.Y.

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31089, 18 June 1966, Page 15

TANKERS BLAZING IN N.Y.

(N.Z. Press Association—Copyright)

NEW YORK, June 17. Firemen today searched for more bodies in the smouldering hulk of the British tanker Alva Cape after a disastrous collision in which at least 19 seamen are known to have died. A tug is reported to have exploded.

The 11,252-ton Alva Cape, loaded with 143.000 barrels of highly inflammable naptha, was in a collision with the 25,413ton United States tanker Texaco Massa-

chusetts as the two vessels were being escorted by tugs through the narrow channel between Staten Island and New Jersey in New York harbour yesterday.

Most of th*; dead seamen were of the 44-man crew aboard the Alva Cape. Police said there were 35 survivors from the Texaco Massachusetts. two known dead from that vessel and two men missins. The British tanker crew consisted of 13 German officers, 30 Chinese, and a British master. Captain G. C. Lewis. He had just arrived from Karachi when the collision occurred. There was no word of the fate of her captain. Captain Richard Pinder, of the Texaco Massachusetts, was among those reported dead. An enormous fire engulfed the tankers and tugs after the collision. Flames rose hundreds of feet into the air and thick black smoke blotted out the scene. FIREMEN FOUGHT New York firemen managed to contain the blaze in the Alva Cape without the naptha exploding. By late afternoon the blaze in the Texaco Mas-

sachusetts was also under control and she was towed out into open water in New York harbour. Today, Alva Cape was charred from stem to stern, her superstructure and topside blackened, and bulkheads and plating buckled by the intense heat.

Coast Guard and police rescuers in boats and helicopters plucked survivors from the sea. There was great confusion concerning the actual number of dead and injured. At one point the United States Coast Guard put the death toll at 23, but later revised the count downward because of duplication.

CRITICAL INJURIES Police said that five men were in critical condition in hospitals, and that 64 men had been taken to hospitals. Some of those were treated and released. They estimated that 102

men had been on board the two vessels and the tugs. Another policeman who inspected the h' Ik of the Alva Cape last night confirmed there were 19 men missing and said the death toll “Could go as high as 30 to 35.” He said barges would begin to pump out the Alva Cape this morning and that workmen would begin to patch the huge gash in her side as fire-

men and volunteers searched the interior of the ship. The Coast Guard said that the tug Esso Vermont apparently exploded when the naptha washed over its engines. Eight of the Esso Vermont’s nine-man crew were reported missing. One was rescued. The cause of the collision remained a subject for Coast Guard investigation, which began Immediately. The Texaco Massachusetts, built in 1963, is 604 ft long with a deadweight of 25,413 tons. The Alva Cape was built in 1953. Its deadweight is 11,252 tons. The picture shows the tankers after the collision; the Alva Cape is in the foreground.