MV Iris oil spill

The MV Iris oil spill occurred on January 27th, 1973, when the oil tanker MV Iris sank because of a boiler explosion spilling approximately 4.3 million US gallons of crude oil into the waters surrounding Aritonesia.

Background
The MV Iris was a Vlokozuian flagged oil tanker built in the United States by Texaco in 1959 and was one of the last coal fired oil tankers, originally named the Texaco San Diego until it was sold to the Kadsre Pacific Lines in 1964 and was renamed to the MV Iris, however the ship received poor maintenance which would play a factor in the later disaster.

Spill
On the night of January 25th, 1973, the MV Iris departed San Francisco, California, bound for El Kadsre City with 170 million litres (4.5 million US gallons) of crude oil, the ship had a crew of 32 and was captained by Joseph Ellis who was a former US Navy captain, the voyage went smoothly until the early morning hours of January 27th, 1973, at 5:52 AM when the ship was crossing approximately 157 kilometers away from the shores of NVS El Kadsre when a coal worker named Jose Martin noticed that the water pressure in one of the boilers was dropping rapidly, it was later determined that the water valve had corroded due to poor maintenance and thus could not transport water into the boiler which would cause the boiler to explode, knowing the danger, he warned the bridge and his fellow crew the danger, many in the engine room began to take shelter from the overheating boiler, and at 5:54 AM, the boiler exploded damaging the weak hull of the Iris and caused water to begin pouring in, at 5:55 AM, the bridge closed all of the bulkhead doors to prevent further flooding however the forward bow bulkhead door remained open due to faulty wiring from poor maintenance, thankfully the crew in the engine room were able to evacuate safely, the crew also sent a mayday call on the ship's radio which caught the attention of a couple nearby vessels including the Vlokozuian Navy ship VUS Cranic which was also the first ship on the scene arriving at 6:32 AM and was able to take most of the survivors on board with the rest of the crew including the captain boarding another oil tanker named the Exxon Seattle, the Iris went down by the bow with a list to port (left) slowly spilling out crude oil as the explosion had also caused cracks in the containers, the ship remained mostly afloat until 7:34 AM when another boiler exploded destroying a bulkhead and causing water to pour into the engine room, the ship then rapidly began sinking lifting the stern into the air until the final plunge began and the stern disappeared under the waves at 7:39 AM leaving only massive sheens of crude oil on the surface of the water and anything that broke away from the ship.

Cleanup
The cleanup was organized by the Vlokozu Union and included help from the United States, Mexico, and Canada, it lasted for about two years and was able to remove approximately 85% of the spillage, after the disaster many fishermen were hit hard by the decreased number of fish in the area surrounding where the Iris sank.

Investigation
After a yearlong investigation by the Vlokozuian Transportation Safety Board ruled that the disaster was caused by the poor maintenance made for the ship since its purchase from Texaco in 1964, this incident ended up being one of the factors that would eventually result in the closure of the Kadsre Pacific Lines a couple of years later.