Coast Guard fingers captain in tanker explosion

Coast Guard fingers captain in tanker explosion    The U.S. Coast Guard’s investigation of a tanker explosion off the coast of Virginia almost two years ago found that the ship captain’s actions were largely to blame for the disaster.
   According to the Washington Post, which obtained the Coast Guard report, Greek Capt. Efstratios S. Kavouras violated several safety regulations leading up to the explosion of the “Bow Mariner” on Feb. 28, 2004.
   Kavouras also failed to transmit a distress signal once the disaster was underway and then abandoned his crew, the newspaper reported today.
   Twenty of the 27 crewmen, including the captain who jumped overboard, died in the incident.
   The “Bow Mariner,” which was operated by Ceres Hellenic Shipping Enterprises Ltd., was transporting 3.2 million gallons of ethanol, 200,000 gallons of fuel oil, and 53,000 gallons of diesel oil at the time of the explosion. The vessel was en route from New York to Houston.