Lifting the lid on the Napoli
By TheGreenMan | Saturday, July 24, 2010, 10:03
ON 20 JANUARY 2007, the stricken 62,000 tonne container carrier MSC Napoli was deliberately run aground at Branscombe beach, near Sidmouth, Devon. This Tuesday (27 July), a TV documentary will lift the lid on the Napoli, revealing how emergency teams fought to prevent an environmental disaster and the problems of trying to remove the ship from the Jurassic coastline.
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The Napoli beached at Branscombe in January 2007
The Napoli incident made national headlines: environmental groups and locals were outraged that the vessel, leaking oil and spewing broken containers - some containing hazardous chemicals - could be deliberately grounded in the midst of a picturesque National Trust beach, part of the Jurassic Coast, a Natural World Heritage Site.
And in scenes reminiscent of Whisky Galore!, opportunistic treasure seekers helped themselves to the contents of the containers, grabbing everything from motorbikes to nappies. The free-for-all brought condemnation from the police, threats of arrest, created a nightmare for the locals, caused the beach to be barricaded, and even inspired a song.
There's more in depth about the Napoli in Ship Rescue: The Devon Disaster at 8pm on Five, Tuesday 27 July.
Comments
Thanks for this heads-up. I wasn't living in Devon when the Napoli beached and remember seeing it on TV. But because I wasn't a local it didn't really mean that much to me. Now I'm down in East Devon, and go to Branscombe regularly, it's of huge interest to me. Did anyone in Exmouth go up there to steal treasure? It's such a cheap reaction isn't it? An environmental disaster and yet so many people just thought about themselves and what they could get out of it. People never fail to disappoint me!
By Nitida at 23:04 on 26/07/10
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