- MS Berge Istra
The MS "Berge Istra" was a ship owned by Norwegian
shipping company Sig. Bergesen d.y. and registered inLiberia , anore-bulk-oil carrier with DWT|227,550|metric|first=yes. The ship had build number 296 at theUljanik shipyard in the port cityPula inCroatia where it was built in1972 .The ship was on route from Tubarão in
Brazil toJapan withiron ore when contact was lost with the vessel in the Pacific (near the islandMindanao ,Philippines ) onDecember 30 ,1975 . After one week, onJanuary 7 ,1976 , the ship was reported missing, but the ensuing search operation yielded no results and was called off on January 10 of that year. 30 people lost their lives. There were two survivors, Spanish citizens Imeldo Barreto Leon (41) and Epifanio Lopez (39), who were picked up from araft onJanuary 20 ,1976 by Japanese fishermen.To this day, 30 years later, the shipping company maintains secrecy with regards to the cause of the accident. The most prominent theory holds that the cause could have been explosions caused by oil residue in the cargo compartments that were filled with iron ore. MS "Berge Istra" was, like its sister ship MS "Berge Vanga" which disappeared under similar circumstances four years later, a ship which could transport both oil and iron ore. After these two disappearances no more combination ships like this were built, and oil was never again transported alongside ore.
ource
*cite news |author = Meland, Astrid |title = "Skipet som forsvant" (The ship that disappeared) |url = http://www.dagbladet.no/magasinet/2006/01/02/453618.html |work =
Dagbladet Magasinet |date =2006-01-03 |accessdate = 2006-09-24 |language = Norwegian
*cite news |author = Visser, Auke |title = Auke Visser's International Super Tankers (images & details) |url = http://supertankers.topcities.com/oo/id159.htm |work = |date = |accessdate = 2007-05-22 |language = English
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