At just part midnight on March 24, 1989, the supertanker Exxon Valdez ran aground on Blight Reef in Prince William Sound,Alaska.
the tanker was coming from the port of Valdez and full,carrying 180,000 tonnes of Alaskan crude oil.
Eight of the eleven oil tanks and three out of five ballast tanks were ruptured,releasing 35,500 tonnes of crude oil in to Prince William Sound in the first 5 hour.
The first action in this situation is contain the spill as soon as possible ,but a barge carrying the equipment only reached the tanker after 14 hour.
The delay was due to equipment having to be loaded on to the barge and cranes involved had to load a tug also bound for tanker.