Camp Lejeune, NC (Off Shore) Tanker Blast, Mar 1977

SURVIVORS SAY 10 DIED IN TANKER BLAST.

Camp Lejeune, N.C. (AP) -- Survivors of the shattered Panamanian oil tanker Claude Conway said Monday that a welding mishap blew the 43,000 ton vessel apart, killing the captain, the radio operator and eight other crew members.
The U.S. Coast Guard said 27 of the 39 crew members were rescued and 12 remained missing as search and rescue operations continued at the site, 120 miles southeast of this coastal U.S. Marine base.
No bodies were found by late afternoon, and there were no confirmed deaths.
However, several of the 18 injured survivors who were airlifted to a Navy hospital here said an explosion and fire ripped through the ship about 9 a.m. Sunday, killing several of their shipmates instantly -- including the radio operator.
The first "May Day" was not sounded until a second vessel spotted the ship early Monday.
"I was asleep and them 'Boom!' .. and I got under a table. Then the back of the ship broke off," said GUISEPPE ALOTTA, a crew member treated for burns and abrasions.
ALOTTA said welding repairs were underway when sparks apparently touched off gas fumes deep in the tanker's belly.
The Conway was enroute to Freeport, The Bahamas, after unloading most of its cargo of residual fuel oil. However, it still contained some 315,000 gallons of residual fuel oil in its hold and 252,000 gallons of fuel oil for its own boilers when the blast occurred, said Charles Conway of New York, vice-president of Cosmopolitan Shipping Co., owner of the vessel.

The Des Moines Register Iowa 1977-03-22
__________________

Researched and Transcribed by Stu Beitler. Thank you, Stu!