BURNING TANKERS

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31112, 15 July 1966, Page 13

BURNING TANKERS

(N.Z.P.A.-Reuter—Copyright)

LISBON, July 14.

An international rescue effort plucked the crews from burning Greek and Norwegian tankers yesterday after they collided in dense fog off the Portuguese coast.

Fires which raged for several hours aboard the tankers were almost out by midafternoon.

Ships of several nationalities, including a Portuguese tug and shore-patrol launch, raced for the scene soon after the collision of the Norwegian tanker Mosli (34,395 tons) and the Greek ship Marietta Nomikos (11,577 tons) near Cape St. Vincent, Portugal’s southern-most cape.

The crew of 36 transferred from the oil-laden Mosli to another Norwegian vessel, the Bayard, as the flames burned fiercely amidships and in the stem. The Marietta Nomlkos was not carrying oil, and the fire aboard her was confined to the crew’s quarters aft. The master radioed that he was hopeful of extinguishing the .flames without outside aid, | but he and his crew later were taken off by the German ship Stuttgart

Only one man was lost in the accident—a second officer of the Marietta Nomikos who disappeared after diving into the sea.