CHRONOLOGY - Spanish oil spill latest of many
Date: 20-Nov-02
Country: UK
Following is a chronology of some previous major oil spills:
18 March, 1967 - UNITED KINGDOM - The Torrey Canyon ran aground off
Cornwall spilling 80,000 tonnes (919,000 barrels) of crude.
20 March, 1970 - SWEDEN - At least 62,500 tonnes (438,000 barrels) of
oil spilled in a collision involving the Othello in Tralhavet Bay.
19 December, 1972 - OMAN - After a collision with Brazilian tanker
Horta Barbosa the South Korean tanker Sea Star spilled about 115,000
tonnes (840,000 barrels) of crude into the Gulf of Oman.
15 December, 1976 - USA - The Argo Merchant ran aground off Nantucket
spilling 26,142 tonnes (183,000 barrels) of oil and causing a slick
160 km (100 miles) long and 97 km wide.
25 February, 1977 - The Liberian-registered Hawaiian Patriot caught
fire in the Northern Pacific spilling 103,285 tonnes (723,000
barrels).
16 March, 1978 - FRANCE - About 213,000 tonnes (1.6 million barrels)
of crude spilled after the Amoco Cadiz ran aground near Portsall in
France's worst ever tanker accident. The resulting slick eventually
covered 125 miles of Breton coast.
19 Jully, 1979 - TRINIDAD & TOBAGO - About 314,285 tonnes (2.2 million
barrels) of crude spilled after a collision off Tobago between the
Atlantic Empress and the Aegean Captain.
6 August, 1983 - SOUTH AFRICA - Fire broke out on the Spanish tanker
Castillo de Bellver and 21.8 million barrels of light crude burnt off
the coast at Cape Town.
24 March, 1989 - USA - The Exxon Valdez hit rocks in Prince William
Sound spilling some 34,000 tonnes (240,000 barrels) of crude oil onto
Alaskan shores.
19 December, 1989 - MOROCCO - After explosions and a fire Iranian
tanker Kharg-5 was abandoned spilling 70,000 tonnes of crude oil,
endangering the coast and oyster beds at Oualidia.
7 February, 1990 - USA - The tanker, American Trader, leaked 1,000
tonnes (7,000 barrels) of crude from a gash in the hull causing an oil
slick 22 km long polluting Bosa Chica, one of southern California's
biggest nature preserves.
28 May, 1991 - ANGOLA/LIBERIA - A Liberian-registered supertanker, ABT
Summer, leaked oil after an explosion off Angola causing an oil slick
17 nautical miles by three.
19 September, 1992 - INDONESIA - Liberian-registered tanker Nagasaki
Spirit collided with container Ocean Blessing in the Malacca Straits
spilling some 12,000 tonnes of crude.
3 December, 1992 - SPAIN - Greek tanker Aegean Sea ran aground and
broke in two near La Coruna spilling most of its 80,000 tonne cargo of
oil.
5 January, 1993 - UNITED KINGDOM - The tanker Braer hit rocks near the
coast of the Shetland Islands shedding its cargo of 85,000 tonnes of
crude in the worst oil wreck in British waters for 26 years.
31 March, 1994 - UAE - 15,900 tonnes of crude oil leaked into the
Arabian Sea after the Panamanian-flagged Seki collided with the UAE
tanker Baynunah 10 miles off the UAE port of Fujairah.
2 October, 1994 - PORTUGAL - Panamanian tanker, Cercal, spilled about
2,000 tonnes of crude into the sea after striking a rock near Leixoes
harbour, in Oporto.
15 February, 1996 - UK - Liberian-registered Sea Empress hit rocks
near Milford Haven, Wales, spilling 40,000 tonnes of oil.
2 January, 1997 - JAPAN - Russian tanker, the Nakhodka, containing
some 19,000 tonnes of oil was torn in two in the Sea of Japan causing
one of the worst oil spills in Japan's history.
13 December, 1999 - FRANCE - The stern of the Maltese tanker Erika
sank off the northwest of France after splitting in two. It was
carrying 25,000 tonnes of viscous fuel oil.
23 June, 2000 - SOUTH AFRICA - Some 1,400 tonnes of heavy fuel oil
leaked from the bulk carrier Treasure off Cape Town prompting massive
rescue of Jackass penguins on Dassen and Robben Islands.
16 January, 2001 - ECUADOR - Ecuadorean-registered ship Jessica,
spilled approximately 570 tonnes (4,166 barrels) of diesel and bunker
oil into the sea off the Galapagos Islands in what
