History | |
---|---|
United States | |
Name | DS Seacrest |
Owner | Unocal Corporation[1] |
Operator | Seacrest Drilling Co., Great Eastern Drilling & Services Inc., Singapore[1] |
Port of registry | Panama[1] |
Builder | Far East-Levingston Shipbuilding Ltd., Singapore[1] |
Completed | 1977[1] |
Identification |
|
Fate | Sunk, November 3, 1989 |
General characteristics | |
Class and type | TD-E Drilling Ship[1] |
Tonnage | 4,400 ton[1] |
Length | 362 ft (110 m)[1] |
Beam | 70 ft (21 m)[1] |
Depth | 24 ft (7.3 m)[1] |
Installed power | 6,625 bhp (4,873 kW)[1] |
DS Seacrest, also known as "the Scan Queen", was a drill ship built by Far East Levingston Shipbuilding Ltd., Singapore, owned by Unocal Corporation and operated by Great Eastern Drilling and Engineering company.[1] It was sunk by Typhoon Gay in the Gulf of Thailand on 3 November 1989. Ninety-one rig workers were killed after the vessel capsized,[2] resulting in a massive legal case brought against the ship's owners UNOCAL.[3] There were only six reported survivors: one Indonesian diver and five Thai rig crew, although these figures vary slightly depending on the source, though all of them agree the death toll would make the sinking the 3rd deadliest offshore disaster in history.[4] Many of the bodies were never recovered. Typhoon Gay produced winds of 100 knots (51 m/s) or more with 12-metre (40 ft) waves. It left hundreds of sunken fishing vessels in its wake, killing 529 people and leaving approximately 160,000 homeless.