MS Maria Konopnicka
M/S Maria Konopnicka – a 154-metre Polish Merchant Navy ship of type B-54 constructed in Gdańsk Shipyard.
On the 13th of December 1961, the ship was being prepared to be handed over to the operator after sea trials. It was being fitted with the final missing equipment and the last issues noted on the sea trials were being fixed.
The ship was supposed to be handed over by the 16th of December - this deadline was practically unrealistic, therefore the directors of the shipyard decided to try and fulfill this deadline by assigning over 300 workers of different specialities to the project.
This caused chaos within the workforce due to the lack of coordination and communication which in the end caused this tragic incident to occur. A worker was welding a pipeline, meanwhile another worker opened up the fuel valve on said pipeline, causing fuel to leak onto the open flame of the welder. A large fire erupted and subsequently 22 dock workers lost their lives due to errors in the rescue effort.
After a year of repairs, the ship was handed over to Chipolbrok, where the ship served to 1979. After the incident the name of the vessel was shortened to just "MS Konopnicka". After 1979 the ship was sold to a Chinese operator which renamed the MS Konopnicka to YIXING.
On the 30th of October another fire errupted on board of the YIXING, this time causing it to completely explode in the port of Shanghai.
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