MS Berge Vanga
The MS Berge Vanga was an ore-bulk-oil carrier with 227,912 metric tons deadweight (DWT). The ship was owned by Norwegian shipping company Sig. Bergesen d.y. and registered in Liberia. The ship had build number 300 at the Uljanik shipyard in the port city Pula in Croatia where it was built in 1974.
The ship was on route from Brazil to Japan with iron ore when contact was lost with the vessel in the South Atlantic in November 1979. The ship vanished and the ensuing search operation yielded no results. 40 people lost their lives.
Some debris that could resemble parts from the tanker was found but no people. Still very little is known about the disaster, and the hearing after the accident was held behind closed doors. The principal theory holds that the cause could have been explosions caused by oil residue in the cargo compartments. MS Berge Vanga was, like its sister ship MS Berge Istra which disappeared under similar circumstances four years earlier, 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.
Source
- Meland, Astrid (2006-01-03). "Skipet som forsvant (The ship that disappeared)" (in Norwegian). Dagbladet Magasinet. http://www.dagbladet.no/magasinet/2006/01/02/453618.html. Retrieved 2006-09-24.
