While in Charleston, South Carolina yesterday, BP Shipping’s British Emissary, a 34k deadweight oil products tanker, suffered a catastrophic a rather startling “combustion fault,” according to BP.
BP spokesperson Jason Ryan provided the following statement:
“Sunday morning while the British Emissary was in port for planned maintenance in Charleston, SC, the ship’s steam services boiler suffered a combustion fault, causing smoke from the vessel’s funnel. The boiler is used for heating and other auxiliary functions on the vessel and is not part of the ship’s propulsion system. No one was injured. The cause of the fault is being fully investigated. The function of the vessel’s propulsion and navigation systems is unaffected.”
Video of the incident was captured by gCaptain contributor James Regan in the following video:
FYI, the commentary is a bit colorful, so if you’re at work watching this, keep that in mind: