Nation : Fatigue Blamed in Oil Spill
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WASHINGTON — The captain of an oil tanker that caused the worst oil spill in Rhode Island history was suffering from “acute fatigue” when his ship ran aground, a federal agency said today.
Capt. Iakovos Georgoudis had worked for 35 consecutive hours before making a serious of mistakes that caused the June 23, 1989, oil spill, the National Transportation Safety Board said.
The spill of 289,000 gallons of No. 2 heating oil sent ribbons of pollution toward the Rhode Island coast in slicks as long as five miles. Shell fishing, swimming and pleasure boating were halted in some areas.
The NTSB ruled out intoxication, drug use or crew incompetence as possible causes, saying the captain’s fatigue led to a series of erroneous calculations and dubious orders.
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