Posted on 10/03/2001 7:27:04 AM PDT by JohnHuang2
LONDON, Oct 3 (Reuters) - An explosion ripped through the hold of a ship carrying a potentially dangerous chemical off England's southeast coast on Wednesday but the vessel was still afloat and its seven crew were safe, coastguards said.
The German-owned, Antiguan-registered AB Bilbao cargo ship was transporting 3,300 tons of ferrosilicone from Sweden to Spain.
"All seven crew on board the ship are safe and we have sent surveyors and a counter-pollution team on board," said a spokesman for Britain's Maritime and Coastguard Agency.
"We have contacted the ship's owners and are monitoring the situation with a coastguard tugboat, which is cruising about a half mile away from the ship," he said.
The spokesman said ferrosilicone gave off highly noxious fumes when combined with water. He said he believed it was this mixture that caused the explosion.
A salvage team was expected to make the ship safe for docking at an English port later on Wednesday.
Stay well - stay safe - Stay armed - Yorktown
ferrosilicone does not exist. Ferrosilicon, as some other posters does, it's a metal, maybe in powder form. If it gets wet with sea water, then H2 gas would collect in the hold. A spark could then set off the gas and wreck the ship. That's the most likely scenario.
Stay well - Stay safe - stay armed - Yorktown
Like the mexican sub-marines I hear are made out of adobe.
Send them to Hazmatt (sp) school!
Don't have the link, but there was an article last night about the governor of Mass. replacing the man responsible for the security at Boston's Logan airport--reassigned him to oversee the security at the Port Authority. Like you say, "hello, Boston".
I guess when I drive to Portsmouth from CT I will be going via Springfield. Business as usual in Massachusettes.
I know its been a long time since the Texas City disaster but people really should thinl about vulnerabilities.
Stay well - Stay safe - Stay armed - Yorktown
Thank you, spunkets...how many times do we have to endure the press' complete and utter lack of knowledge of the difference between silicon and silicone.
Silicon is a basic element, Si...it's most notable use being the very semiconductors and memory chips used to store and write this message.
Silicones represent a group of synthetic compounds created by the polymerization of organosilanes. Their most notable use is breast implants, of course. But more importantly, they are widely used in greases and gasket materials because they tend to be chemically inert. As an example of their inert nature, silicone-containing resins are used in the manufacture of graffiti-resistant paint, because virtually nothing can stick to it.
Silicone-silicon...nuclear-nucular. Who cares any more?
There was a news article a few years back about a tank wagon of isopropanol that rolled over and dumped its load nearby. The newswriter (I won't say journalist) didn't hesitate to try and create a little hysteria. He/she only stated that the chemical is used as an industrial solvent, and in the manufacture of paint, but failed to inform the public that most everyone kept a bottle of this "hazardous material" in their medicine chest. I guess he/she was hoping to save the world from rubbing alcohol that day.
This is the other part I liked. It's either dangerous or not. (Kind of like a little bit pregnant.)
Stay well - stay safe - stay armed - Yorktown
Like Dihydrogen-oxide. That can be pretty dangerous stuff too.
/john
It would make for some interesting airport frisks at the metal detector...
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