{"id":15293,"date":"2025-08-19T20:03:44","date_gmt":"2025-08-19T20:03:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/krogragg.com\/?p=15293"},"modified":"2025-08-19T20:03:44","modified_gmt":"2025-08-19T20:03:44","slug":"video-explosion-on-coal-carrier-w-sapphire-rocks-baltimore","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/krogragg.com\/?p=15293","title":{"rendered":"VIDEO: Explosion on coal carrier W-Sapphire rocks Baltimore"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>    VIDEO: Explosion on coal carrier W-Sapphire rocks Baltimore<br \/>\n \t<BR><br \/>\n<BR><\/BR><br \/>\n    <!-- no image --><br \/>\n \t<BR><br \/>\n<BR><\/BR><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>The <em>Baltimore Sun<\/em> reported this morning that the main channel used by cargo ships to enter and exit the Port of Baltimore was still shut down as the Coast Guard probed the cause of a Monday evening explosion on board the coal carrier <em>W-Sapphire<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>Video on YouTube and social media showed a huge fireball erupting from the vessel in the vicinity of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.marinelog.com\/?s=Key+Bridge\">Francis Scott Key Bridge disaster<\/a>.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed alignleft is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"zxx\" dir=\"ltr\"><a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/PqJYR5padJ\">pic.twitter.com\/PqJYR5padJ<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Port of Baltimore (@portofbalt) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/portofbalt\/status\/1957782083947970676?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">August 19, 2025<\/a>\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p>The 751-foot <em>W-Sapphire<\/em> showed signs of a fire consistent with an explosion, the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baltimoresun.com\/2025\/08\/18\/ship-explosion-causes-fire-near-key-bridge\/\"><em>Baltimore Sun <\/em>story <\/a>cites Baltimore City Fire Department spokesperson John Marsh as saying.<\/p>\n<p>The Liberian-flag<em> W-Sapphire <\/em>is a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wmarine.com\/vessels\/w-sapphire\/?portfolioCats=30%2C28%2C27\">2012-built 81,168 dwt Kamsarmax <\/a>according to the website of its manager and operator, Greece\u2019s W. Shipping.<\/p>\n<p>The Coast Guard says that at approximately 6:30 p.m. yesterday, Sector Maryland-National Capital Region watchstanders received a call over VHF channel 16 from the <em>W-Sapphire<\/em> stating there had been an explosion aboard the vessel.<\/p>\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-9d6595d7 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:100%\">\n<p>The <em>W-Sapphire<\/em> was outbound from Baltimore Harbor with 23 crewmembers and two pilots aboard and was south of Fort Carroll at the time of the explosion. The report stated the vessel was transporting coal.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Watchstanders issued an Urgent Marine Information Broadcast notice to mariners and dispatched responders to the scene to assist while coordinating the response with local port partners.<\/p>\n<p>All 23 of the crew members were accounted for and uninjured, the <em>Baltimore Sun<\/em> quotes fire officials as saying.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Explosion Erupts Aboard Ship In Baltimore Harbor\" width=\"900\" height=\"506\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Hy4d5T5BI5k?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-ukp-amp-i-club-warning\">UKP&amp;I Club warning<\/h3>\n<p>Coal is a hazardous cargo and in December last year the UK P&amp;I Club noted:<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Club is aware of a number of incidents, involving coal cargoes from the East coast of the U.S.A., which were emitting dangerously high levels of methane. On occasions, the ship\u2019s holds natural ventilation was not sufficient to remove the excessive methane concentrations.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt is crucial for shippers to provide accurate cargo declarations, including information about potential methane emissions, to comply with the requirements of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.imo.org\/en\/ourwork\/safety\/pages\/cargoesinbulk-default.aspx\">IMSBC Code.<\/a> Failure to do so could lead to hazardous situations on board vessels.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cShipping companies should remain vigilant and monitor methane levels in coal cargoes. If excessive rates of methane accumulation are detected, immediate action should be taken to ensure the safety of the crew and the vessel.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe advise members who have loaded coal cargoes from the East coast of the U.S.A .and have concerns regarding methane emissions to contact the Club immediately.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The post <a href=\"https:\/\/www.marinelog.com\/news\/video-explosion-on-coal-carrier-w-sapphire-rocks-baltimore\/\">VIDEO: Explosion on coal carrier W-Sapphire rocks Baltimore<\/a> appeared first on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.marinelog.com\/\">Marine Log<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p> \t<BR><br \/>\n <BR><\/BR><br \/>\n    Nick Blenkey<br \/>\n \t<BR><br \/>\n<BR><\/BR><br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.marinelog.com\/news\/video-explosion-on-coal-carrier-w-sapphire-rocks-baltimore\/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=video-explosion-on-coal-carrier-w-sapphire-rocks-baltimore\">Go to marinelog<\/a><br \/>\n \t<BR><br \/>\n <BR><\/BR><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>VIDEO: Explosion on coal carrier W-Sapphire rocks Baltimore The Baltimore Sun reported this morning that the main channel used by cargo ships to enter and exit the Port of Baltimore was still shut down as the Coast Guard probed the cause of a Monday evening explosion on board the coal carrier W-Sapphire. Video on YouTube [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5857,5858,192,199,5859,489,5860,216,5861,5862],"tags":[193],"class_list":["post-15293","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-coal","category-hazardous-cargo","category-marinelog","category-news","category-port-of-baltimore","category-safety-and-security","category-ship-fire","category-video","category-w-sapphire","category-w-shipping","tag-marinelog"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/krogragg.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15293"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/krogragg.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/krogragg.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/krogragg.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/krogragg.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=15293"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/krogragg.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15293\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/krogragg.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=15293"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/krogragg.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=15293"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/krogragg.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=15293"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}