ABT Summer

{{Short description|Oil tanker that burned and sank in 1991}}

MV ABT Summer was an oil tanker which was built at the South Korean shipbuilding yard of Ulsan and launched in 1974. The vessel was 344 meters in length and almost 54 meters in breadth. While under a Liberian flag,{{Cite web|url = http://www.cedre.fr/en/spill/abt_summer/abt_summer.php|title = ABT Summer|date = 2010-06-16|accessdate = 2014-12-06|website = Cedre|publisher = |last = |first = }} fully laden with Iranian crude and en route to Rotterdam, she sank {{convert|700|nmi}} off the Angolan coast. An unexplained explosion occurred on May 28, 1991, and the ship and its cargo began to burn. Five of the crew of thirty-two were killed in the incident, four of whom were initially reported as missing.{{Cite web|url = http://www.marineinsight.com/marine/life-at-sea/worst-oil-spills-the-abt-summer-oil-spill-incident/|title = Worst Oil Spills: The ABT Summer Oil Spill Incident|date = 2012-10-05|accessdate = 2014-12-06|website = Marine Insight|publisher = |last = |first = }} The following day, a slick {{convert|32|km}} long and {{convert|7|km}} wide began to form. The ship continued to burn for three days before sinking on June 1. The vessel's 260,000 tonne cargo of oil was lost, leaving a visible slick on the ocean surface of approximately eighty square miles. Attempts to locate the wreck following the incident proved unsuccessful.{{Cite web|url = http://www.itopf.com/in-action/case-studies/case-study/abt-summer-off-angola-1991/|title = ABT SUMMER, off Angola, 1991|date = |accessdate = 2014-12-06|website = ITOPF|publisher = |last = |first = |archive-date = 2014-12-08|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20141208174519/http://www.itopf.com/in-action/case-studies/case-study/abt-summer-off-angola-1991/|url-status = dead}}{{Cite web|url = http://www.oilpollutionliability.com/abt-summer/|title = ABT Summer|accessdate = 2014-12-06|website = OilPollutionLiability.com|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20141110231410/http://www.oilpollutionliability.com/abt-summer/|archive-date = 2014-11-10|url-status = dead}}