Another not-so-smooth arrivals!
Arriving River Tyne - 18 March 2019: Ron

Looking at reports of yesterday's explosion in Beirut, City of Rome was berthed quite close to the warehouse involved. Her AIS beacon is still transmitting, so hopefully not to badly damaged and, more importantly crew are safe.

A couple of ships nearer Mero Star 83/3780, Raouf H 85/43622, both feeders appear to be lost and Jouri 99/9950 car carrier ex City of Paris suffered the same fate.

In addition to Simon's post BALTAGI XX (ex Cragsider) and BALTAGI 19 may also be lost.

simonships wrote:A couple of ships nearer Mero Star 83/3780, Raouf H 85/43622, both feeders appear to be lost and Jouri 99/9950 car carrier ex City of Paris suffered the same fate.

On a Reuters photo Raouf-H can be seen listing to port, Mero Star appears to be on an even keel - there are two other vessels on the corner, one appears to be a ferry, both upright. The site of the warehouse that had the second, bigger explosion now appears to a hole in the ground and filled with sea water.

The aerial view suggests that the silo my have sheltered the tugs which can be seen in the basin on the undamaged side of the silo?

northeast wrote:The aerial view suggests that the silo my have sheltered the tugs which can be seen in the basin on the undamaged side of the silo?

Yes, although both tugs AIS went off at the time so there may still be some damage. The new footage also shows the two ships at the head of the berth - both look like they may be sitting on the bottom.

Also the former HMS Dumbarton Castle, now BNS Bijoy lost 3 crew members in the blast.

Renamed: ORCHID since 01/10/2020 - Panama flag

Ron M