SEA SET AFIRE
BLAZING OIL SHIP TEN HURLED OVERBOARD FLAMES TRAP SWIMMERS ORDEAL OF SURVIVORS PERIL IN LIFEBOAT (Elec. Tel. Copyright—United Press Assn.) (Reed. July 29, 10 a.m.) LONDON, July 28. A terrible ordeal is described by 24 survivors of the French oil tanker Sunik. which it was reported yesterday, caught fire and sank after being rammed by a Swedish steamer, Grangesberg, in a fog off Eddystone, with the loss of 10 lives. The tanker’s 5000 tons of benzine converted the sea into a blazing cauldron over a radius of nearly a mile. The captains of both vessels and nine of the crew of the Sunik were thrown overboard when the Sunik’s boilers burst after the collision. The 10 were burned .to death as they tried to swim through the flames.
A lifeboat-began to burn while the scorched rowers struggled to clear the danger zone. Several of the survivors were badly burned..
The bows of the Grangesberg caught fire while locked with the Sunik, and the Swedish vessel was still burning when she reached Falmouth in the morning.
The fire from the Sunik lit up the sea for miles throughout the night.
Permanent link to this item
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/GISH19390729.2.70
Bibliographic details
Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20002, 29 July 1939, Page 5
Word Count
192SEA SET AFIRE Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20002, 29 July 1939, Page 5
Using This Item
The Gisborne Herald Company is the copyright owner for the Gisborne Herald. You can reproduce in-copyright material from this newspaper for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International licence (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0). This newspaper is not available for commercial use without the consent of the Gisborne Herald Company. For advice on reproduction of out-of-copyright material from this newspaper, please refer to the Copyright guide.
Log in