The Whiddy Island disaster, also known as the Betelgeuse incident or Betelgeuse disaster, occurred on 8 January 1979, around 1:00 am, when the oil tanker Betelgeuse exploded in Bantry Bay, at the offshore jetty for the oil terminal at Whiddy Island, Ireland. The explosion was attributed to the failure of the ship's structure during an operation to discharge its cargo of oil. The tanker was owned by Total S.A., and the oil terminal was owned by Gulf Oil.
The explosion and resulting fire claimed the lives of 50 people (42 French nationals, seven Irish nationals, and one British national). Only 27 bodies were recovered. A further fatality occurred during the salvage operation with the loss of a Dutch diver.[1]
^"Oil Spillage report – The Betelgeuse incident". Cedre. April 2006. Archived from the original on 19 October 2007.
and 23 Related for: Whiddy Island disaster information
The WhiddyIslanddisaster, also known as the Betelgeuse incident or Betelgeuse disaster, occurred on 8 January 1979, around 1:00 am, when the oil tanker...
Previously home to WhiddyIsland Naval Air Station, the island is noted for its oil terminal facilities – and the related WhiddyIslandDisaster. As of the 2022...
largest oil spill from an oil tanker in history. January 8, 1979: The WhiddyIslanddisaster, also known as the Betelgeuse incident, occurred around 1:00 am...
The following list of disasters in Great Britain and Ireland is a list of major disasters (excluding acts of war) which relate to the United Kingdom,...
main islands in the bay are Bere Island and WhiddyIsland. Bere Island is located near the entrance to the bay. On the north side of the island is Berehaven...
explosion of a Total tanker, the M/V Betelgeuse, in January 1979 (WhiddyIslanddisaster) and it was never fully reopened. The Irish government took over...
along the Thai border, ending large-scale fighting. January 8 – WhiddyIslandDisaster: The French tanker Betelgeuse explodes at the Gulf Oil terminal...
Provisional IRA. In 1979, the section was tasked to assist during the WhiddyIslanddisaster, in which the oil tanker Betelgeuse exploded in Bantry Bay claiming...
refinery's success. The INPC acquired the WhiddyIsland Terminal, destroyed in the 1979 WhiddyIslanddisaster, in 1985, which it repaired and reopened...
aftermath of the WhiddyIslanddisaster in 1979, the Lough Bealtra was made available at short notice to survey the effects of the disaster on the marine...
July 1975 4 July 1975 4 July 1975 1 August 1975 Costello Inquiry WhiddyIslandDisaster Declan Costello 6 March 1979 6 March 1979 9 April 1979 26 July 1980...
– WhiddyIslandDisaster: fifty people were killed when an explosion destroyed the French oil tanker Betelgeuse at the Gulf Oil terminal on Whiddy Island...
intellectual property were cited internationally. Following the WhiddyIslanddisaster in 1979, in which 50 people lost their lives in an oil tanker explosion...
Island (Irish: Baoi Bhéarra or Oileán Baoi) lies at the southwestern tip of the Beara Peninsula in the west of County Cork in Ireland. Dursey Island is...
418 inhabitants at the 2022 census, Cobh is on the south side of Great Island in Cork Harbour and home to Ireland's only dedicated cruise terminal. Tourism...
sea. They expressed a wish that a memorial be erected to commemorate the disaster, and Cork County Council subsequently purchased the site and built a memorial...
the 1840s the population of the area had swelled to nearly 20,000. Then disaster struck when the potato crop failed and the Great Irish Famine resulted...
later however, fifty people were killed when the Betelgeuse exploded at WhiddyIsland in Bantry Bay. The Total tanker was still not fitted with inert gas...
closed on 7 March 1977. The station was the site of the Buttevant Rail Disaster on 1 August 1980. At 12:45 a CIÉ express train from Dublin to Cork entered...
Betelgeuse was moored off WhiddyIsland, discharging oil when it exploded, killing 50 people in one of the worst disasters in Ireland's history. The Dave...
Wuppertal, West Germany Fifty people were killed in an explosion at WhiddyIsland in Ireland's Bantry Bay when the French tanker Betelgeuse exploded at...
was disbanded. The United States Navy closed its air naval base at WhiddyIsland, Ireland following the end of World War I. The American Expeditionary...
Retrieved 18 February 2020. "Disasters At Sea". The Times. No. 32821. London. 4 October 1889. col F, p. 7. "Disasters At Sea". The Times. No. 32825....
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