Supertanker on fire

Press, 13 July 1985, Page 10

Supertanker on fire

NZPA-Reuter Bahrain A laden Turkish supertanker, the • M. Ceyhan, is blazing in the Gulf south of Iran’s Kharg Island oil export terminal because of an Iraqi air strike, shipping sources in the region say. Two tugs based on the western side of the waterway were at the scene and would start to fight the blaze after picking up the 37 crew members, who, the owners of the 112,742-gross-ton vessel said, had taken to life boats. The sources said that the 226,000-deadweight-ton M. Ceyhan was hit about 100 nautical miles south of

Kharg, in an area where its sister ship, the M. Vatan, was hit in a similar strike on Tuesday. In Bagdad a military spokesman said that Iraqi aircraft had hit a “large naval target” south of Kharg, in the north-east of the Gulf, at 6.15 a.m. (2.15 p.m. NZT). The sources said this was about the time the M. Ceyhan had sent a distress signal saying its engineroom was on fire after a missile strike. The M. Ceyhan and the M. Vatan are believed to have been hit by air-launched exocet missiles.