Selendang Ayu
The
Selendang Ayu, transporting a cargo of soya and with 1,600 tonnes
of heavy fuel in her bunkers, suffered from damage to her engine
in a storm and grounded on Unalaska Island, in the Aleutian Islands.
Due
to extremely difficult conditions, the air-lifting of the crew proved
to be a dramatic operation. A helicopter crashed and 6 sailors were
killed in the incident.
Pollution
response operations at sea became practically impossible, due to
the difficult weather conditions and the movement of the zone. Response
efforts were concentrated on the coast, involving the use of booms
in the salmon river estuaries and clean-up operations similar to
those carried out in France and Spain for the Erika and Prestige
spills, but on a far smaller scale.
The commanding officer of the Malaysian cargo ship the Selendang
Ayu was condemned to 3 years probation in March 2005 by an American
court, for having lied about the time the damaged engine stopped.
He had waited in a raging sea for not 11 but 13 hours before asking
for assistance from a tug.
Name: Selendang Ayu
Date: 7 December 2004
Location: USA
Accident area: western shore of Unalaska Island, Alaska
Cause of spill: grounding
Quantity transported: 1,600 tonnes
Type of pollutant: bunker fuel oil
Quantity spilled: 1,300 tonnes
Ship type: bulk carrier
Length: 222 m
Flag: Malaysian
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Last update: June 2011