Issue date: 3/1/04 Section: News

PORTSMOUTH, Va. - A tanker carrying 3.5 million gallons of industrial ethanol exploded and sank about 50 miles off the Virginia coast Saturday, the Coast Guard said. At least three of the 27 crew members died and 18 are still missing.

The Bow Mariner, a 570-foot tanker flying a Singapore flag, made an emergency call just after 6 p.m., saying there had been an explosion on board, said Petty Officer Stacey Pardini with the Coast Guard's Atlantic area in Portsmouth. The ship had been headed to Houston from New York with 24 Filipino and three Greek crew members.

The explosion occurred about 50 miles east of Chincoteague, Va., after a fire started on the deck of the ship, said Lt. Chris Shaffer of Ocean City
(Md.) Emergency Services.

''When the rescue divers got on the scene the fuel tanker was on fire, sinking and there was people in the water,'' Shaffer said.

Nine crew members have been accounted for, including one who was picked up by a commercial fishing boat and later died, said Coast Guard Senior Chief John Moss.

Three helicopters, including one called from Atlantic City, N.J., three Coast Guard boats and a C-130 plane were still searching for survivors early Sunday.

Six men from the ship were taken by helicopter to Sentara Norfolk General Hospital, spokeswoman Vicky Gray said. One was in critical condition, two were in serious condition and three were in good condition, she said. All are being treated for hypothermia.

Two Coast Guard members were brought in as a precaution and were in good condition, Gray said. One was a rescue swimmer, the other a flight mechanic for a helicopter.

One of the dead was taken to Atlantic General Hospital in Berlin, Md., spokeswoman Toni Keiser said, along with two rescue divers who were treated and released for minor injuries.

Gray and Keiser both said their hospitals were told not to expect to receive any more victims, and Keiser said extra emergency staff called in had been sent home.

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