1990 - Val Rosandra

On April 28, 1990, a fire developed onboard the Italian registered gas carrier Val Rosandra (2,999grt) as she unloaded propylene at a gas terminal in the port of Brindisi, Italy. She carried 2,200 tons of propylene. The fire broke out between the compressor room and the No. 3 cargo tank which then spread to the No. 3 cargo tank. Due to the potential danger the Harbour Master, after consulting with the fire chief, the chief pilot, representatives from the classification society and the terminal manager and manager of the tug company, ordered the vessel to relocate 6 miles offshore. Whilst unmooring, a spill of propylene occurred from a pipeline, resulting in a fire at a pier fender from where it spread to the plant facilities. The fire was quickly contained and extinguished within a few hours.

On April 28, 1990, a fire developed onboard the Italian registered gas carrier Val Rosandra (2,999grt) as she unloaded propylene at a gas terminal in the port of Brindisi, Italy. She carried 2,200 tons of propylene. The fire broke out between the compressor room and the No. 3 cargo tank which then spread to the No. 3 cargo tank. Due to the potential danger the Harbour Master, after consulting with the fire chief, the chief pilot, representatives from the classification society and the terminal manager and manager of the tug company, ordered the vessel to relocate 6 miles offshore. Whilst unmooring, a spill of propylene occurred from a pipeline, resulting in a fire at a pier fender from where it spread to the plant facilities. The fire was quickly contained and extinguished within a few hours.

Relocation of the vessel to an offshore location took place by 3 tugs. One towed the vessel, the other two cooled the cargo tanks adjacent to the No. 3 tank. The crew of 18 were forced to abandon the vessel, three of whom were hospitalized for light burns and other injuries.

On the morning of April 30, a committee was appointed under the chairmanship of the Harbour Master, consisting of representatives from the fire brigade, the Italian classification society, the port chemist office, the chemical plant, tug company to evaluate the situation on board the vessel.

The national Italian authorities in Rome requested REMPEC and EEC Task Force to provide information on what has been done in the past for similar cases as well as to provide information on the hazardous properties of propylene. Information was also requested from CEDRE and from the Prefecture Maritime in Toulon, France since France had had experience with a similar accident involving the gas carried "Gaz East" which carried butane.

In the following days, various meetings of the committee in Brindisi took place and instructions from the national authorities in Rome were received stating that an operation to extinguish the fire would be too high a risk. Thus the committee decided against a fire extinguishing operation. In the meanwhile, an emergency towline was installed at the stern as a safety measure just in case the primary towline in the bow would break.

On May 11, the committee discussed various possibilities to deal with the fire: 1) to jettison the propylene in order to purge the tanks of their cargo, but this was considered too dangerous; 2) to burn off the cargo in the various tanks using explosives followed by scuttling the vessel using explosives which would burn off her bunkers; and 3) to scuttle the ship destroying both the cargo and burning off her bunkers all at one go.

At first option 3 was chosen but following consultations with other stakeholders, option 2 was considered more suitable and the salvage company SMIT TAK International was entrusted with the job.

The vessel was moved 31 nautical miles offshore where it would be scuttled. An exclusion zone was set up for maritime traffic at 12 miles radius and the same for air traffic with an additional height of 6,000 metres.

On May 21, SMIT TAK took charge of the vessel. Explosives were placed on top of the cargo tanks Nos. 1, 2, 4, 5. Once the explosive charges were detonated, flames as high as 80 metres were observed. The sea area was patrolled by a large number of navy craft, coast guard vessels, anti-pollution vessels whilst a coast guard aircraft patrolled the airspace.

Between May 21 and May 24, the stern towline which was being used to hold fast the vessel was melted down due to the intense heat of the fire.

To prevent the vessel from drifting, a tug from the salvage company took the vessel on tow from the bow using an emergency line. Another salvage tug was also deployed to the scene and placed on standby.

On May 24, because of the adverse weather conditions, the bow towline broke and the burning ship began to drift. It was estimated that within 24 to 30 hours, the vessel would enter Yugoslavia's territorial waters. The Navy was therefore requested to make plans to sink the vessel in Italian territorial waters should efforts to fasten the vessel fail.

On May 25, after many attempts, a towline was secured at the stern of the vessel and was towed back to the point of scuttling about 30 nautical miles offshore. A navy ship remained ready to intervene just in case the situation got out of control.

In the following days, the intensity of the fire on board subsided as the propylene in the tanks got used up. On June 6, an inspection was carried out to determine whether the scuttling of the ship could take. This inspection was completed by June 8 and also looked into whether the bunker had also burnt off. On the same day, explosives were placed in key places and the Val Rosandra was scuttled. Eleven minutes after the detonation, the vessel sunk. Monitoring continued up to June 12. This showed that no pollution had occurred.