Name MV María Alejandra Yard number Nº 101 Construction started 24 March 1975 Length 329 m | Port of registry Cádiz (Spain) Laid down 24 March 1975 Launched 5 October 1975 Builder Spain | |
Owner Mar Oil S.A. (Wilson Walton International) Route Algeciras - Ras Tanura - Algeciras | ||
The María Alejandra was a Spanish oil tanker built in 1975 in Cádiz, Spain. She sunk suddenly on high seas some 130-150 km off the coast west of Nouadhibou, Mauritania on 11 March 1980 after several internal explosions presumably related with malfunction on the inert gas system. 36 out of 43 people aboard perished.
She was the penultimate ship built by Astilleros de Cádiz, (Cádiz) one of the main shipyards in Spain. Before its completion the original customer, the Italian company D'Amico Società di Navegazione, canceled the contract. Finally in 1977 she was acquired by Mar Oil, member of the Wilson Walton group, to bring oil from Ras Tanura in the Persian Gulf to refineries in Algeciras in southern Spain. During the return trip from Algeciras to Ras Tanura (on which her fatal accident happened) the ship was unloaded, on ballast.
Accident
On March 4, 1980 the María Alejandra arrived to Algeciras Bay and unloaded the oil she brought from the Persian Gulf in the CEPSA refinery. During unloading the crew found problems with the inert gas system, which prevents explosions in the holds. The unloading ended on March 6 and preparations for the next leg back to Ras Tanura started next. In the first hours of March 8 she left port again, however the problems with the inert gas system were not fully resolved yet, and the crew were working on them en route.
After a stop at Las Palmas in the Canary Islands she was sailing south along the western African coast headed for the Cape of Good Hope and the Indian Ocean. About 13:30 hours Spanish time on March 11 an explosion was felt aboard, suddenly followed by other explosions. According to the survivors the ship broke apart and sunk in about 40 seconds.