[citation needed] Accordingly, building a new oil terminal in Europe capable of handling the largest vessels that were planned was judged appropriate.

The intention was that oil coming from the Middle East would be off-loaded at this terminal and then stored for trans-shipment to European refineries using smaller vessels.

Oil shipments had to come round the Cape of Good Hope, thus avoiding the vessel size constraints previously imposed by the canal.

[citation needed] In 1966, US-based Gulf Oil identified Whiddy Island, located in Bantry Bay in West Cork, Ireland, as being the most suitable site for the new terminal.

[4] The opening of the terminal was celebrated in the Clancy Brothers song "Bringin' Home the Oil", which was used as the theme for a two-minute television commercial for Gulf.

[6] Originally, Betelgeuse was to call at Sines, Portugal, to lighten the load of the ship, but poor weather conditions prevented the vessel from entering the harbour.

Plans were further frustrated at Leixões, where a ship had run aground across the harbour entrance, preventing Betelgeuse from berthing there to discharge her cargo.

During the passage, the vessel encountered heavy weather in the Bay of Biscay, and after reporting a leakage of oil was instructed to head towards Brest, France, at reduced speed.

[7] Around 1:00 am (evidence on the precise time conflicts) on Monday, 8 January, a rumbling or cracking noise was heard from Betelgeuse, followed shortly by a huge explosion within its hull.

About twelve hours after the explosion, Betelgeuse sank at her moorings in 40 m (130 ft) of water, which largely extinguished the main body of the fire.

[9] In spite of this, rescue workers were not able to approach the wreck (the bow of which was still above water) for a fortnight due to clouds of toxic and flammable gas surrounding it.

[10] One TD noted that there had been earlier incidents at the Whiddy Island terminal and questioned whether Gulf's status as a major employer had made the authorities reluctant to enforce a rigorous inspection regimen.

[11] The report indicated three main factors had contributed to the incident: A faulty unloading operation was determined to have unbalanced the vessel, causing it to break its keel and thereby rupture several empty ballast tanks.

The company can but contest the report's conclusions which assume that the ballasting operations were carried out in a most unlikely way by a highly qualified crew.Total drew attention to the unexplained absence from his post of a Gulf employee whose duty it was to supervise the unloading from the on-shore control room.

The individual concerned had left the control room some time before the trouble started (see below) and his absence may have contributed to a lack of urgency in responding to events.

Some local residents claimed up to five minutes elapsed between the audible structural failure of Betelgeuse and the time at which the initial explosion happened.

Gulf never reopened the Whiddy Island terminal and a feasibility study in 1985 showed that it no longer had any potential use in the international oil trade.

In 1990, at the time of the first Gulf War, an improvised repair was carried out to the jetty to allow an oil tanker to offload at the terminal on a one-off basis.

In January 2004, relatives of the victims joined with local residents in a 25th anniversary service held at St Finbarr's Church in Bantry.

In 2019, on the 40th anniversary of the explosion, a commemorative ceremony was attended by the families of several victims, a number of politicians, local people and representatives of the emergency services.

[16] A memorial sculpture, incorporating the ship's bell which was recovered from the wreck of Betelgeuse, has been erected in the hillside graveyard overlooking the harbour.