[4][5] The larger part of the ship was refloated, towed out to sea, and then sunk by the South African Air Force to prevent further oil contamination of the coastline.
Wafra left Ras Tanura in Saudi Arabia on 12 February 1971 bound for Cape Town, South Africa, with a cargo of 472,513 barrels (75,123.6 m3)[6] (63,174 tonnes)[7] of Arabian crude oil on board.
On 10 March 1971, Buccaneer aircraft of the South African Air Force attempted to sink her with AS-30L missiles, but succeeded only in starting a fire.
[13] In the wake of the accident, the South African Department of Transport realised that despite many Very Large Crude Carriers (VLCCs) using the Cape sea route each year, the authorities did not have ocean-going tugs that were able to assist them in distress, and to protect sensitive marine areas by breaking up oil spills with chemical dispersants.
[19] They therefore set up an oil spill prevention service known as Kuswag (Coastwatch) and commissioned two new salvage tugs, John Ross and Wolraad Woltemade.