SS OMI YUKON, D.N. 547919, EXPLOSIONS AND FIRE ON 28 OCTOBER 1986 IN THE PACIFIC OCEAN APPROXIMATELY 1000 MILES OF HONOLULU, HAWAII, WITH MULTIPLE LOSS OF LIFE AND PERSONNEL INJURIES

At approximately 1025 local time on 28 October 1986, the U.S. tank vessel SS OMI YUKON suffered major explosions and fires in the starboard fuel oil storage tanks and engine room while enroute to Ulsan, South Korea from Barbers Point, Hawaii. The explosions extensively damaged the engine room and blew the stack deck and stack completely off the vessel. Two men working on deck near the starboard side of the stack deck and two men on watch in the engine room are missing and presumed dead. An additional four crew members were injured. The survivors abandoned ship at about 1600 in a lifeboat and an inflatable life raft. A distress signal from their electronic position-indicating radio beacon (EPIRB) was detected by commercial aircraft and confirmed by Search and Rescue Satellite (SARSAT). Coast Guard aircraft located the survivors at about 20300 and maintained surveillance until they were rescued by the Japanese fishing vessel SHOICHI MARU at 0700 the next morning. The Commandant has determined that the cause of the casualty was both the contamination of the vessel's bunkers with flush oil during bunkering through a subsea pipeline and the absence of a flame screen in the after starboard fuel oil tank vent.

• Corporate Authors:

  United States Coast Guard

  2100 Second Street, SW
  Washington, DC  United States  20593
• Publication Date: 1987-9-30

Media Info

• Pagination: 48 p.

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Crash causes; Crash reports; Explosions; Fires; Tankers
• Subject Areas: Highways; Marine Transportation; Safety and Human Factors;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00486695
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: National Technical Information Service
• Report/Paper Numbers: USCG-16732/0002HQS88
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Aug 31 1989 12:00AM