FSO catches fire while being dismantled in Turkey

A fire ignited on board a floating storage and offloading vessel (FSO) as it was being dismantled at a recycling yard in Turkey's western province of Izmir on Thursday, July 3.

Local media have identified the vessel as the 1973-built Sloug, which was initially completed as a tanker. The ship later underwent conversion into an FSO and was deployed off Libya from 1989 until finally being decommissioned in 2017.

The FSO arrived in Turkey in 2023 after an earlier arrival in Egypt had triggered protests from local environmental groups.

Firefighting boats and other assets deployed to the shipbreaking yard in Aliaga City in Izmir in response to the incident shortly after 11:00 local time on Thursday. Workers on the tanker and elsewhere throughout the yard were evacuated without injury as the fire continued to rage.

Officials said on Thursday that they expect the firefighting effort to possibly last several days due to the severity of the inferno.

The Turkish Environment Ministry has assured that there are no more large quantities of hazardous material remaining on board the vessel.

An earlier incident occurred on Sloug on November 5, 2021, as it was undergoing decommissioning off Libya. One of the chains binding the FSO had snapped, killing three technicians who were conducting maintenance work on board at the time.