Whiddy disaster relatives applying to High Court to rectify death certs

The relatives of 50 persons who died in the Whiddy Island Disaster are applying to the High Court for rectification of the victims’ death certificates.

The relatives of 50 persons who died in the Whiddy Island Disaster when the oil tanker, MV Betelgeuse, caught fire and exploded at Gulf Oil’s Whiddy Island Oil Terminal’s offshore jetty in West Cork are applying to the High Court for rectification of the victims’ death certificates.

The French Irish Association of Relatives and Friends of the Betelgeuse say they are making the application due to what they perceive as the failure of the Irish State to address multiple unlawful safety failings which caused the deaths on Bantry Bay on January 8, 1979.