Oil is a great resource for humanity, but it does have its fair share of dangers. In the past few decades, we had to deal with many oil spills, all of which were quite demanding and all sorts of challenging. Yet you do have to wonder, which are the biggest oil disasters in history and how can we address them?
Odyssey Oil Spill, 1988
This oil spill is known for the 43 million gallons spilled at that time and the fact that most of the oil can still be found out there, at large. It was spilled near the coast of Nova Scotia in Canada and you can still find a wide array of its negative effects even a few decades afterwards. This is a clear testament that shows how oil spills can be dangerous and what negative effects they can bring in to the table.
Amoco Cadiz, 1978
Around 68.7 million gallons were spilled here and the entire cargo was dumped in the English Channel. The marine life was obviously affected and a lot of animals were killed as a result. The cleanup efforts required around 3300 tons of dispersant to be used, which was a record at that time.
Castillo de Bellver, 1983
The Castillo de Bellver spill took place in South Africa and around 78.5 million gallons were spilled here. around 1500 gannets were affected, however the impact on local fish was minimal at that time, quite impressive to say the least.
ABT Summer, 1991
The ABT Summer spill in Angola is known for the 80 million gallons of oil spilled into the water. Also, the tanker used to transport this cargo burned for 3 days, uninterrupted. It did sink eventually, but it does show the power of oil and how powerful it can be.
Fergana Valley, 1992
Around 87.7 million gallons were spilled in Uzbekistan and many consider it to be one of the largest inland spills that ever existed. The ground absorbed everything so cleaning crews had a very simple job here. However, this clearly shows that it was one of the most demanding and challenging spills, especially since it took place inland.
Atlantic Empress, 1979
The Atlantic Empress spilled 88.3 million into the Caribbean Sea. This really impacted the experience quite a bit and it brought in front quite a lot of challenges as a result. One of the tankers that spilled this amount of oil actually exploded, which killed 26 people that were its crew at that time. However, only minor pollution was reported in the region. Yet this was a devastating experience if you take into account the human sacrifices made here.
A thing to keep in mind about these oil disasters is that they are some of the most demanding and challenging disasters in human history. Proper precautions are set in place now so things like this will never happen. Unfortunately, these tragedies did happen and we can never take them back. The flora, fauna and even human life was affected for a very long time in all the aforementioned regions!