Tanker Explodes, Sinks With 27 on Board

[DoYouEverWonder]

CHINCOTEAGUE, Va. - A tanker carrying industrial ethanol exploded and sank about 50 miles off the Virginia coast Saturday night, the Coast Guard said. Crews were searching for 27 people who were on board.


Yahoo News 2 minutes ago

[bemildred]

1. The usual illiterate headlines.

Should be something like:

"Tanker with 27 aboard explodes and sinks, search for survivors underway"

[lcordero]

2. Headlines usually have to be as short as possible

[CatWoman]

7. not necessarily

a headline count takes into consideration point size and layout.

[DS1]

9. And with an experienced typographer, Licensed to Kern

"Big motherfucking explosion seen offshore, looks like some sort of tanker, yeah, it was a tanker, now it's sinking, I can see bodies, hey Earl put down your beer and check this out!"

[liberalhistorian]

10. LOL!

I'm sorry, I know this isn't funny at all, but that's too funny to pass up!

For God's sake, people, what's more important, the headline or the news itself? I think that the possiblity that 27 people may have just lost their lives on a tanker is far more important than the wording of the stupid headline!

As the daughter of two English teachers, I had to put up with corrections all the time, even in front of people, so I guess I'm a bit sensitive on the issue.

[efhmc]

11. Agreed. What is this semantics about when people have perished?

[The Stranger]

34. I think that you're missing a comma in that second sentence.

Er, sorry.

[CatWoman]

14. you really, really

need to get laid.

[DS1]

21. why? are your kittens vanishing into thin air?

[gristy]

3. Good point.

Even a shorter one like "Tanker with 27 aboard explodes and sinks" would be a vast improvement. The original one implies (no, it states) that it sank with the 27 still aboard.

[bemildred]

4. Right, thanks, short is necessary, misleading is not. nt

[DS1]

6. To continue the chain of title bickering

it is now "Tanker Explodes Off Va.; at Least 2 Die "

Thank you, drive through.

[mobuto]

5. There are survivors

From the article:

. At least two of the 27 crew members aboard were killed, and rescue crews were still searching for 19 others.

Six crew members were taken to hospitals in Maryland and Virginia, said Petty Officer Stacey Pardini of the Coast Guard Atlantic area in Portsmouth. The extent of their injuries was not immediately available.

This sounds real bad.

[mdguss]

8. This isn't funny; Here's What I've heard from DC area tv:

The tanker exploded. It had a crew of 25. 6 people have been found alive (including one who was covered in Ethanol). The tanker was carrying the Singapore flag. It was a fuel rig that was carrying 3.5 million gallons of Ethanol fuel.

This is a major story not only for the 25 or 27 (depending on the reports) people aboard. It could have a massive environmental impact. The general area (as shown on Fox's map) is near that Maryland/Virginia eastern shore and also near the point where the Chesapeake Bay enters the Atlantic Ocean. There are many, many people who make their living fishing in the bay or off the shore. There are many others that make their livings from tourism on the eastern shore. And there are two national wildlife refuges in that general area.

This said, we don't know how bad the spill is. The coast guard spokesperson said, "We realize that many people are concerned with how the tanker exploded and with the environmental impact of ethanol, but our primary focus is on finding survivors. There are 19 people out there we need to find."

Frankly, this situation is nothing to make fun of. I am sure there will be more details in the morning.

Update: Fox 5 says 2 confirmed dead, 17 are missing.

[DoYouEverWonder]

12. Thanks for the update

Any word on what caused the explosion?

[bemildred]

13. I would expect it was the booze, but there are other possibilities. nt

[mobuto]

16. This isn't human-grade ethanol

if the sailors were drinking it, they'd probably have died. Don't be ridiculous. Ethanol is a volatile liquid that's also extremely flamable. This isn't all that surprising.

[bemildred]

17. Tsk. That's why it's most likely what exploded.

Eh?

[mobuto]

15. Who was making fun of it?

I think its deadly serious.

[gristy]

19. Hopefully ethanol is so light it will "just" evaporate.

Better than a crude oil spill, though I don't know what all that ethanol in the atmosphere will do.

[muriel_volestrangler]

23. "Massive environmental impact"?

If it was pure ethanol, there shouldn't be much of a problem - it will mix with the water easily. You may get a few fish dying of alcohol poisoning in the first few minutes, but after that it shouldn't be a problem. If there's some other chemical mixed in with the ethanol, that might cause a problem.

[donsu]

27. agree - this is a very serious issue

why did it explode? that is a HUGE question.

what it is doing to the environment is massive.

one poster here said it might just kill a few fish - we have less and less fish every yr. less and less birds, less and less everything.

[Media_Lies_Daily]

18. I'm surprised Homeland Security isn't jumping all over this...

...this would make a good reason to jack up the ol' Terror Alert level.

[DoYouEverWonder]

20. I'm surprised they haven't announced

that this incident doesn't have anything to do with terrorism by now. That is the first thing they announce whenever there is an 'accident.'

[oostevo]

22. They have already.

[pinniped]

35. Sure is. Terrorism is not suspected at the Maui airport incident.

Heard it earlier and I was greatly relieved.

[BiggJawn]

24. Where's Hardegan?

Sounds like his M.O.

[jmcgowanjm]

25. not to mention the energy it took to make this ethanol

and the energy it will take to maintain
the destination point's status quo until more can be made
and another tanker can be found to ship it.

[The Night Owl]

26. Chincoteague is a wildlife refuge...

I hope this accident doesn't have too bad an impact on the wildlife at Chincoteague.

[muriel_volestrangler]

28. the accident happened 80km offshore

by the time it reaches the shoreline, the 11000 tonnes of ethanol will have been diluted in about 1 trillion tonnes of seawater, assuming an average depth of 50 metres. A 0.0000011% solution of alcohol is unlikely to have a noticeable effect on wildlife.

[snowFLAKE]

29. Assuming that the ethanol disperses equally in all directions

I calculate that about 1 quadrillion tonnes of seawater would be involved - this nitpicking notwithstanding (i.e., you've over-estimated the "danger" by 1,000-fold) - you do make a good point that ethanol is an environmentally benign form of energy compared to crude oil (for example). Too bad it takes as much energy to produce as it contains, however.

[muriel_volestrangler]

30. could be - I assumed currents would disperse it well

my calculation was

pi * (80000m)squared * 50m = about 1 trillion cubic metres

1 cubic metre of seawater contains about 1 tonne of water

so it's about 1 trillion tonnes

but I may have missed a factor somewhere.

[snowFLAKE]

32. You're probably correct

And note to Self: It'd be a good idea to actually write out calculations on a piece of paper to check them before posting conclusions on websites.


Anyhow, the Coast Guard says most of the ethanol evaporated - I'm curious how they know this piece of information, essentially since it was fairly cold I'd suspect that the ethanol would be more likely to mix with the water.

[Bdog]

31. Worry more about the 700 tones of fuel oil the tanker was running on.

Most researchers have found that making ethanol form corn is slightly energy positive.

There are plenty of other feed stocks that are much better. Corn is one of the poorest feed stocks to make ethanol out of.

[NewYorkerfromMass]

33. SO the update Mon. AM is there is no hope for more survivors.

:(

[donsu]

36. what made the tanker explode? surly there is an investigation

you would think homeland security would be all over it and if they are all over it, why are they silent about it?