Tuesday, March 11

Oil is now leaking into the North Sea after a Portuguese container ship hit a United States-flagged oil tanker in a major collision yesterday, and both ships suffered serious damage and were set ablaze after the incident.

The Stena Immaculate, belonging to the United States military, was anchored in the North Sea yesterday morning carrying 220,000 barrels of jet fuel when the Portuguese-flagged Solong slammed into it, leading to severe damage on both vessels. A massive fire quickly erupted across the scene, with one of the ships being completely swallowed in flames before the British Coast Guard and other organizations stepped in to help.

The crew immediately left the ships and escaped the potentially dangerous area, with the help of local authorities. In total, 36 people made it out of the incident, while one member of the Solong is still missing. However, searches proved unsuccessful, and they recently confirmed that the search for the man has ended.

Now, the Stena Immaculate is leaking jet fuel into the ocean, while the Solong happened to be carrying a toxic chemical that could also prove deadly.

Experts have confirmed that while jet fuel is not as bad as crude oil, which is thicker and heavier, it still poses a major risk to the environment. Marine life can swim through this jet fuel or worse, swallow it, killing off scores of animals, and the flaming jet fuel on the surface of the water is emitting thick, black smoke into the air.

Meanwhile, the Solong was carrying primarily alcohol, but it also had 15 containers of a toxic chemical known as sodium cyanide onboard. Sodium cyanide is a chemical used in many industrial processes like mining, but it is extremely deadly. When it comes into contact with acids, water, or carbon dioxide, sodium cyanide turns into hydrogen cyanide, a dangerous gas that also happens to be highly flammable, and inhalation of hydrogen cyanide can result in death in mere minutes.

Nevertheless, authorities still do not know whether the chemical even leaked into the ocean, nor have they have established a number for an estimate of how much jet fuel has entered the sea. Due to the fuel, though, the fires onboard the ships are still burning despite strong efforts from authorities.

As of right now, the greatest concern is the environmental damage that could be done by the incident, as the arrival of jet fuel in the ocean could kill off hundreds or even thousands of fish, seals, and other local marine life. Ships with booms, or floating barriers that stop oil from spreading, have been sent to the area, and several planes that are able to spray a dispersant onto the fuel. These dispersants break the oil down into much smaller particles, making the oil easier to dissolve into the water.

In addition, authorities have also been looking at the cause of the incident, which is still unknown. The US-flagged ship had been anchored around 10 miles off the coast of the United Kingdom while it waited to be accepted at a nearby port, while the Solong was en route from Grangemouth, Scotland to Rotterdam in the Netherlands when the collision occurred. Some suspect that heavy fog may have played a role, but speculation is being avoided by authorities and experts alike.

Fact of the Day (Reader's Digest): The average American uses around three rolls of toilet paper per week-- an excessive amount that is destroying Earth's forests.

Quote of the Day (Gracious Quotes): I believe that life is a process of continuous change and a constant struggle to make that change one for the better. (Lee Kuan Yew)

Word of the Day (Merriam-Webster): Wend (verb, WEND) - Wend is a literary word that means “to move slowly from one place to another usually by a winding or indirect course”; wending is traveling or proceeding on one’s way in such a manner.

In a Sentence: Hikers wend along the marked trails to the top of the mountain, which provides a panoramic view of the area towns.