RELATIVES AND friends of those killed in the Betelgeuseoil tanker explosion in Bantry Bay will gather in the west Cork town tomorrow for a civic reception before attending a special memorial Mass on Thursday to mark the 30th anniversary of the tragedy.
Some 50 people were killed when the 11-year-old oil tanker owned by the French multinational Total exploded while offloading its cargo at the offshore jetty at the Whiddy Island oil terminal in the early hours of January 8th, 1979.
A series of explosions broke the back of the 120,000 tonnes tanker and quickly spread to the jetty as the sea was engulfed in flames which lit up the night sky and were visible as far away as Dunmanway.
There were fears at one point that the entire terminal, owned at the time by Gulf Oil, would also be caught up in the conflagration but the fire was confined to the tanker and the jetty and the tanks emerged intact. All 42 French crew of the Betelgeuseperished in the tragedy as did seven local men who were on the jetty at the time, Charlie Brennan, Tim Kingston, Denis O'Leary, Neilly O'Shea, Jimmy O'Sullivan, Liam Shanahan and David Warner.
Some 75 relatives of the French victims are coming to Bantry as are relatives of English cargo surveyor Mike Harris, who also died in the inferno, and relatives of Dutch diving supervisor Jaap Pols who died later during a salvage operation.
The commemoration will start tomorrow night with the civic reception organised by Bantry Town Council. Bantry native, well- known sean nós singer, Seán Ó Sé will later perform for the visitors.
Betelgeuse Memorial Trust chairman Donal O'Sullivan, who lost his brother Jimmy in the tragedy, told The Irish Timesthe purpose of the commemoration was to ensure that those who died were not forgotten.
"It's difficult to explain what it means to Bantry, but we see what the Air India people do to remember their loved ones and we're just trying to keep the memory of those who died in the Betelgeusealive because it could easily be allowed fade away and die," he said.