December 5, 5:30 p.m. In the subtropical North Indian Ocean, the sun still shines strongly on the blue sea. The 450-ton "Fifth Shirakawa", a large ocean-going fishing vessel of Shirakawa Fisheries Institute, has completed fishing for skipjack off the African sea and is sailing back to Japan 1,000 kilometers south of the Indian continent. The mottled rust-red hull is exposed everywhere, telling the hardships of nine months of ocean fishing, and it is about to set foot on the long-lost land.The whole crew was as happy as a child, jumping and jumping. The climate of the Indian Ocean is the opposite of that of the coast of Japan. In summer, the waves are often rough, but in winter there is no monsoon, and most of the days are calm.

On this day, the wind speed was still a breeze of 2.5 meters per second, and long waves of about 200 to 300 meters gently swelled up, gently shaking the hull. Due to its proximity to the equator, temperatures are high. "It's about 10 o'clock at night in my hometown, Yaizu." Captain Suzuki Shinkichi looked at the navigation chart and muttered to himself. "Fire found ahead!" The watchman shouted loudly. The captain immediately raised his binoculars.Yes, there was black smoke billowing from the sea ahead, and red tongues of flames flickered in the black smoke.The captain immediately concluded that the ship was on fire.

"Full speed ahead!" The captain ordered the helmsman loudly, and after a tremor, the 450-ton ship increased its horsepower amid the roar of the engine.However, the maximum horsepower of the hull fully loaded with skipjack can only reach a speed of 11 knots. "Communication officer, have you received the SOS?" Captain Suzuki still held up the binoculars and asked loudly while observing. "Not received so far. Neither have radio buoy transmissions." "That's strange. It must be the ship on fire anyway." Since the ship was on fire, it was necessary to send out an SOS emergency call, but no signal was received, which is really puzzling.

Tropical sunsets come so fast.On the western horizon, just as the fiery red sun began to sink, the surrounding sea turned from cobalt blue to a swath of red, then deep purple.With the change of color on the sea surface, the red flames that were still looming in the black smoke just now became so dazzling. When there was still about a thousand meters away from the fire zone, Captain Suzuki couldn't help exclaiming: "It's like the sea is burning!" Indeed, the scene in front of him can only be described as the sea is burning. On the surface of the sea, in a somewhat oval-shaped fire area, the fire with a diameter of about 1,000 meters curled up with unusually violent momentum.The black smoke rushed into the air hundreds of meters high, and then drifted southwest with the breeze.The huge black umbrella like a mushroom cloud has already covered the sky above where the "Fifth Shirakawa" is located.As the black smoke obscured the afterglow of the setting sun, the surroundings dimmed like a thin curtain.

Although it was about a thousand meters away from the fire area, the terrible sound of "hoo, hoo" from the raging fire could still be clearly heard.Feeling that it would be dangerous to approach any further, the captain ordered the ship to stop. The captain stepped out of the watchtower, onto the deck, and walked straight to the bow.The rest of the crew also came on deck. Huge pillar of fire. The hull of the "Fifth Shirakawa" and the dark faces of the crew members standing on the deck were all reddened by the flames at this moment.Everyone's expressions are extremely serious and heavy.

The heat wave got worse. "Looks like oil is burning." Said the 57-year-old fishing captain. "So, that means there's been a fire on the tanker." Captain Suzuki stared intently at the burning sea. "Probably the leaked oil is burning. If the ship is surrounded by fire, there is no escape." "In any case, search the sea first, and rescue any survivors immediately." Captain Suzuki shouted the order in a hoarse voice and raised the binoculars again. Suddenly, a silhouette-like hull appeared in the field of view of the telescope.Although it is the hull, it is only the bow part. The huge bow was surged by the waves in the flames, and disappeared into the waves in a blink of an eye.

"see it?" Still looking ahead, the captain asked in a low voice. "I see." The fishing captain also answered in a hoarse voice, swallowing his saliva forcefully.For these sailors who live at sea, there is nothing more distressing than seeing a shipwreck. The hull sank like a black silhouette. No one could tell what it was or where it was, but the rising pillars of fire and black smoke enveloped the sky. The sun had completely set, and it was pitch black overhead, but the nearby sea surface was as bright as day because of the burning of oil. "There is a floating object in the front right!"

Suddenly, a crew member called out. It's a life buoy.The crew gave chase with long, hooked bamboo poles.The white lifebuoy that was salvaged was sticky and covered with black oil.Wipe off the grease with a rag, revealing the words "First Japan". "Communication officer!" Captain Suzuki returned to the lookout, shouting orders. "Send a telegram to Tokyo immediately." "Is it the head office in Tokyo?" "No, to the Coast Guard." "How?" "I'll write a telegram right away." The captain took out a notepad, quickly and scribbled down the message, removed the page, and handed it to the communications officer.

Our large ocean-going fishing vessel "Fifth Shirakawa" found oil burning on the sea about 1,000 kilometers south of India, at 3°0' south latitude and 74°3' east light.The fire spread to about a kilometer in diameter. The fire seemed to burn like the entire Indian Ocean, and the black smoke shot straight into the sky hundreds of meters above. We believe that the tanker sank and oil flowed out causing the fire.So far, no survivors have been found, only an oil-stained life buoy with the words "Daiichi Japan" on it. Please advise on how to proceed next. The Coast Guard replied as follows:

Please stay at the current position of your ship and try your best to find survivors. "First Nippon" is owned by the New Nippon Airline Corporation. It is a huge oil tanker weighing 500,000 tons.On the way back from filling up with oil at the Khafji base in Saudi Arabia, the radio communication with the head office was suddenly interrupted at 7:00 pm (Japan time) today (December 5). "If it's 7 o'clock in the afternoon in Japan time, it's 3 o'clock in the afternoon here." Captain Suzuki looked at the record of the wireless telegram and said. The black smoke was found at 5:30 pm, which is consistent from the time point of view.There must have been some accident at the moment the phone was cut off. The tanker sank, and the oil it carried floated to the surface of the sea, causing fires, burning, and explosions.

Captain Suzuki called back to the Coast Guard to say "Understood".When they heard that it was a giant oil tanker weighing 500,000 tons, the crew members couldn't help being in an uproar. It was 1,000 times bigger than their ship!At the same time, I feel that it is a pity to lose a full tanker of oil, and it has caused marine pollution. At this time, due to the strong radiant heat, even the deck of the "Fifth Shirakawa" became hot, and if you accidentally touched the hot iron plate, you would be so hot that you jumped up.Reluctantly, the captain ordered: "Back 200 meters." The engine started again, and the "Fifth Shirakawa" slowly retreated 200 meters.Still, standing on deck, the intense radiant heat still seemed capable of burning the skin. There was no way, Captain Suzuki ordered to retreat another 300 meters. The sea was still burning, and the black smoke spread in the air, covering all the stars, and the moon, which should have shown its face, could not be seen. The crew took out their cameras and kept pressing the shutter.In such a raging fire, any survivors would be burnt immediately. The fire continued for more than an hour.It lasted a total of three hours from the time of discovery, and the red tongue of flame finally disappeared. However, the billowing black smoke continued to rise upwards, spreading in the air like a mushroom cloud after an atomic bomb explosion, arrogantly looking down on the "Fifth Shirakawa". Although it is very close to the equator, the night wind on the sea is still very cool.Seeing that the radiant heat was gradually weakening, the captain ordered "slow forward". "Turn on all the lights and shine on the sea. Don't let anything get lost!" The fish-collecting lights are arranged on both sides of the quilt, all turned on.The ship was advancing slowly.The crew held on to the railing and stared at the sea.As they approached the burning site, the pungent stench hit the crew.It's the smell of burning oil.The sea was covered with the black scum of charred oil. The "Fifth Shirakawa" went back and forth several times in the constantly rising black smoke, but unfortunately found nothing, but this may be inevitable.For three hours, or a longer period of continuous burning, the raging fire will probably reach a high temperature of more than 1,000 degrees, so whether it is people, objects, wood boards, etc. will be burned up, and steel will sink to the bottom of the sea.It should be said that it is almost a miracle to find a lifebuoy of the "Daiichi Japan". The captain faces a decision.Nearly two hours of searching turned up nothing.Even if the search were stopped now, no one would be to blame.Moreover, there is a lot of bonito in the boat warehouse, and it is necessary to rush back to the port of origin—Yaizu as soon as possible.Returning one day late will incur a loss of tens of thousands, no, hundreds of thousands of yen to the parent company. However, it was difficult for the captain to make up his mind to leave decisively.What if there are survivors of the "First Japan" drifting on the dark sea?Two years ago, the captain himself was killed off the coast of the Philippines and was rescued after drifting for 17 hours.At that time, it was because the fellow boats did not lose heart and kept searching that he was miraculously rescued. "Continue searching for 12 hours." After intense thinking, the captain called all the crew and announced the decision. The black smoke ahead remained frozen there like a mushroom cloud from an atomic bomb explosion, unchanged. The surrounding sea was shrouded in pitch black night.It seems that the real search can only wait until after dawn, so the captain explained to the crew that they can sleep for the time being.The captain himself went back to the captain's cabin and lay down. The engine of the "Fifth Shirakawa" stopped, all lights on the deck were turned on, and the fishing boat was floating on the sea.In this way, if there are survivors drifting on the nearby sea on the "First Japan", they will also find this light. The captain also ordered that the whistle be sounded every ten minutes. The captain was woken up after about an hour's sleep and reported that he heard someone's voice. The captain ran on deck. The sea was still pitch black, and the stench was still as pungent. "There seems to be a human voice on the starboard side." Following the direction pointed by the young crew member, the captain watched intently and listened attentively. Yes, it was someone's voice coming from the dark sea, and there was also the sound of paddling oars. The captain assembled the crew on the starboard side and shouted loudly: "Hello——" It seemed that the other party also answered "Hello—" but the voice was extremely low.That's right, it was a human voice, and it was only two or three hundred meters away. "Bring blankets and first aid on deck and make some hot coffee." The captain ordered in an excited tone. There was an immediate commotion on board, and all the blankets were taken to the deck. A few minutes later, amidst the lights of the "Fifth Shirakawa", a lifeboat slowly approached.It was a large lifeboat twelve or thirteen meters long. It seemed that the engine had failed, and it was rowed by oars. 1 person, 2 people... There are 6 people in total. They all look exhausted, and all of them are covered in oil stains and black all over their bodies.In the cabin, some people stood up and waved their hands to this side, and some squatted down in the cabin exhausted. "come on!" The captain cheers them on with a loudspeaker.The crew on the deck also cooperated: "Cheer up!" "Persevere!" "Cheer up!" You shouted to the six people on the lifeboat. The small boat approached the "Fifth Shirakawa", but the height difference between the lifeboat and the deck was very large, and the "Fifth Shirakawa" dropped several ropes to the lifeboat.The people on the boat grabbed the rope and tried to climb up, but due to the slippery oil on their bodies and fatigue, they couldn't climb up anyway. The crew on the "Shirakawa" leaned down, and when they touched the side of the ship with one hand, they grabbed their wrists and pulled them up. The six people were pulled up one by one, and blankets were immediately wrapped around their bodies.After drinking the coffee while it was hot, blood appeared on their faces. "Are you all on the 'Daiichi Japan'?" Captain Suzuki asked six people.One of them, a short but very muscular man in his fifties, said politely: "I am Captain Miyamoto of the 'Daiichi Japan'. First of all, I sincerely thank you for your rescue." "What about the rest of the crew?" "There were 26 crew members and I watched them flee the scene in another lifeboat." Captain Miyamoto bit his lip and cast his eyes on the dark sea.Captain Suzuki patted him on the shoulder lightly, comforting: "Don't worry, I'll find them." The "Fifth Shirakawa" called the Coast Guard: At 10:25 p.m., six survivors of the "First Japan" headed by the captain were rescued.The ship decided to continue searching for survivors in this sea area. Its daybreak.Tropical dawns come as suddenly as their sunsets. The black smoke like a mushroom cloud disappeared at some point.It was as if nothing had happened on the surface of the North Indian Ocean, it was extremely quiet, and the lost oil polluted the seawater surprisingly little due to burning. The "Fifth Shirakawa" started searching again with the fire scene as the center, circle after circle, constantly expanding the radius of the search circle. Captain Suzuki was in the observation deck, rubbing his tired face with his hands.At this time, Captain Miyamoto of the "First Japan" who had changed his clothes came in. Captain Suzuki took out a cigarette from his pocket and handed one to Captain Miyamoto. "Haven't spotted the others yet. No, I think I'll find out soon." "I hope so too." "I have reported your situation to the Coast Guard. Are you going to return to Japan on this ship? But it will take more than 10 days even at full capacity." "If possible, it would be best to send us to the nearest port from here. I would like to transfer from there to go back by plane. Because the 500,000-ton tanker and its full load of oil are lost, it must be reported to the company as soon as possible, which is my responsibility." "clear." Captain Suzuki replied.Because when his 400-ton fishing boat was lost, his mind was full of the idea of ​​apologizing to the company, and what Captain Miyamoto sank in the Indian Ocean was a 500,000-ton, the world's largest giant oil tanker, a huge sense of responsibility , Negative illness must weigh heavily on his heart. Captain Suzuki looked at the chart table. "The nearest port from here should be Colombo in Sri Lanka, let's sail there." So the two decided. The search continued uninterrupted for another 4 hours.The crew's eyes were bloodshot because they hadn't slept all night, but the 26 sailors were still missing. Captain Suzuki had no choice but to send another telegram to the Coast Guard.The telegram is as follows: Another search found no survivors.The ship decided to stop the search and sent the six survivors of the "Daiichi Japan" to Colombo, Sri Lanka.The ship is headed for Colombo. It is no exaggeration to say that the news of the sinking of the world's largest 500,000-ton giant oil tanker "First Nippon" was a great blow to Japan. Since the "First Japan" is loaded with such a huge amount of oil as 580,000 kiloliters, it is conceivable that its loss will cause serious pollution to the ocean. When the news just came out, not only the leadership of the New Nippon Airline Headquarters to which the "First Nippon" belongs, but even the officials who participated in the "Japan Tanker Conference" organized by the tanker company were stunned and shouted: "This is the end!" From the Persian Gulf through the Indian Ocean to Japan, known as the oil road.80% of the 260 million kiloliters of oil that Japan consumes every year is transported to Japan by this route. The giant oil tanker sank on this line. If all the 580,000 kiloliters of oil loaded flowed out, what would happen?The first is that the oceans are polluted.As the oil flows to the coast, the coastal countries will jointly condemn Japan.The movement of large tankers will also be restricted, and Japan's isolation will be seen at ocean meetings. Later, when they heard that the oil tanker sank not in the narrow strait, but in the sea about 1,000 kilometers away from Nanjing, India, the officials breathed a sigh of relief. Later, when it was known that the outflowing oil had been burned, and most of the oil seemed to have sunk to the bottom of the sea with the tanker, the officials of the tanker meeting and the management of the New Nippon Lines head office felt that it was a blessing of misfortune , Only then did I feel relieved. On December 7, all morning newspapers in Japan reported the news of the sinking of the "First Japan" on the front page. Phrases such as "lucky among misfortunes" can be seen in every report. The headline "Six people led by Captain Miyamoto were rescued" was ranked under the news of the sinking of the oil tanker. This can only be said to be the particularity of this oil tanker. The newspaper also published the main situation of the "First Japan".details as follows: 379 meters in length 62 meters wide 36 meters high Cargo weight tonnage 477,000 tons Host horsepower 45000 horsepower 15 knots 32 crew members Cargo capacity 581,000 cubic meters Deck area 20,000 square meters Propeller diameter 9.2 meters Judging from the photos, the two chimneys on the "First Japan" tanker are juxtaposed, and the control departments are all concentrated on the rear deck. It really looks like a beautiful ship. The evening paper also published a list of the six rescued: Kenichiro Miyamoto (54 years old) Captain Yoshio Tsuji (43 years old) Chief of Staff Yoshihiro Takeda (50 years old) ship doctor Yosuke Sato (41 years old) First class crew member Tetsuo Kono (39) Second Class Crewman Shiro Kojima (45 years old) Boatswain The manager of New Nippon Air Lines, the parent company of the "First Japan", also officially acknowledged the sinking of the "First Japan" on the same day. On the other hand, the coastal countries near the sinking site of the oil tanker also responded clearly. When the governments of India and Sri Lanka received the news of the sinking of the giant oil tanker, they also announced that if their waters were polluted, they would reserve the right to claim compensation for the losses. In addition, near the place where the "First Japan" sank, there is a group of small islands called the Chagos Islands, which belong to the British territory.Among them is an island called Diego Garcia, which has a US military base. When they received the news, a naval patrol plane immediately flew to the sea of ​​distress. However, the twin-engine Klaman Hawkeye patrol plane saw only the burnt oval tawny sea surface at sea.The captain reported that there was no sign of expanding its range, and that there was no concern about oil pollution of the ocean. India and Sri Lanka each sent a destroyer.Their reports, too, were nearly identical to those of the patrol planes: There was no threat of ocean pollution from oil outflows, and the burn-polluted sea was rapidly shrinking. As a result, the two countries issued a statement on the afternoon of December 7, not seeking compensation for damages. The sea has returned to calm.