1967 Torrey Canyon oil spill

The Liberian-registered tanker, chartered by a subsidiary of the Union Oil Company of California and loaded with Kuwaiti crude, struck the Seven Stones reef between the Isles of Scilly and the Cornish coast on 18 March 1967. After plans to tow the ship or pump out the cargo failed and the hull began to break up, the authorities bombed the wreck between 28 and 30 March to burn off the oil still aboard. About 15 per cent of the cargo came ashore in west Cornwall, and an estimated 25,000 birds died from ingesting oil, from pneumonia and from the toxic cleaning agents used against the slick.

Date
1967-03-18
Tonnes spilled (ITOPF)
119000
What the pin marks
Pollard's Rock on the Seven Stones reef, where she ran aground.
Where the position is published
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torrey_Canyon_oil_spill

Category: Disasters & Incidents

Tags: tanker, grounding, cornwall, seabirds, dispersants

Coordinates: 50.04167, -6.12883

Part of The largest oil spills from tankers since 1967

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