Ostedijk
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The Ostedijk is a Dutch cargo ship that sent out a distress call on 17 February 2007 when it was about 20 km off the northwestern tip of Spain (east of Estaca de Bares)
The ship was transporting 6,000 tons of a fertilizer called NPK 151515C from Porsgrunn in Norway to the Spanish Mediterranean port city of Valencia. The captain radioed that there was a "chemical reaction" in his ship's cargo, leading him to stop engines. The Spanish authorities sent a support team to look at the ship but nothing wrong was detected and Ostedijk was allow to continue travel to Valencia. On the 18 February, the day after, the caption radioed again that there was a "chemical reaction" in the cargo and that more white smoke was visible coming out of the section # 2 of the cargo. The Spanish authorities then tow the ship away from the coast and start consulting with technical experts. It was soon known that the fertilizer cargo had ignited and a smouldering fire was slowly propagating and ejecting a plume of white smoke. As time was going by and no action was taken, the fire continue to grow. Only on the morning of the 20th, a nearby towboat start throwing water over the ship's cover to cool down the cargo but the effect were negligible. Land personal was sent aboard the ship to open the cargo containers on the 21st. As more oxygen reached the smouldering fertilizer, a huge white plume of smoke was visible. On the 22nd, three special water pipes were inserted into the cargo and deliver water directly to the fertilizer smouldering spots. The fire was control soon after and by March 1 the fire was declared extinguished and the Ostedijk went to the nearby port of Bilbao.
The Spanish Government never agree to call the incident a fire but a "self-sustain fermentation reaction".
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