DAKOTA

The Ostedijk is a Dutch cargo ship that sent out a distress call on 17 February 2007 when it was about 20 kilometers off the northwestern tip of Spain (east of Estaca de Bares) The ship was transporting 6,012 tons of a fertilizer NPK 15-15-15C from Porsgrunn in Norway to the Spanish Mediterranean city of Valencia. On the 17 February, the captain of the ship radioed that there was a "chemical reaction" in the ship's cargo, leading him to stop engines. The vessel was near the port of A Coruña. The Spanish authorities sent a support team to look at the ship but nothing wrong was detected and the Ostedijk was allowed to continue her voyage to Valencia. A day later, the captain radioed again that the chemical reaction in the cargo was continuing and that white smoke was coming out of # 2 section of the cargo hold. The Spanish authorities then towed the ship away from the coast and began consultation with technical experts. Specialists were sent to the vessel, they took measurements with infrared cameras, estimating that the top of the fertilizer had reached about 200 °C. As time went by and no action was taken, the plume continued to grow. On the morning of the 20th, a nearby tugboat started throwing water over the ship's cover to cool down the cargo but the effect was negligible. Land personnel were sent aboard the ship to open the cargo containers on the 21st.