Response to the Apollo Sea oil spill, South Africa

On June 22, 1994, reports were received that some badly oiled penguins had come ashore at a seabird breeding colony on Dassen Island, northwest of Cape Town. An on-site inspection the following morning revealed that a few hundred birds had been oiled and that oil was present at various locations around the island. This was the first indication that a major oil spill had occurred. There had been no forewarning; it was only discovered 7 days after the fact that a bulk carrier, the Apollo Sea, had sailed with a full load of iron ore from Saldanha Bay and 4 hours later had suffered a catastrophic fracture and had sunk in storm conditions off the Cape coast. All 36 crew members were lost, and 2400 tons of heavy fuel oil were spilled into the sea. No report had been received by the authorities that this casualty had occurred. The spillage of this oil resulted in the most complex and costly cleanup operation in South Africa to date.