Burning Oil Tanker (Colour Litho)

Oil tanker on fire. In the Gulf of Oman, two tankers, one French, Fernand Gilabert and the other Liberian, Melika, collided. The latter, with an Italian crew, was traveling fully loaded when the Gilabert bow tore through her side; the oil, spurted from the broken bulkheads, was on fire. The fire turned the ships, stuck inside each other, into a fire. The Melika, then, disengaged from the narrow and moved away. Firefighters of the Bulwark aircraft carrier and the Puma frigate, reached Melika and began shutdown operations. 14 Italian sailors were reported missing, but it is likely that many of them are were collected by other ships. Illustration for Courier Sunday, 28 September 1958.