Black Waters: The Sea Empress Disaster
Described by presenter and naturalist, Iolo Williams as the “single worst incident I’ve ever seen,” the Liberian oil tanker Sea Empress ran aground in February 1996 at the entrance to Milford Haven, one of the busiest ports in the UK. Within hours, crude oil began pouring into the sea.
Over the following week, more than 70,000 tonnes spread across the Pembrokeshire coastline, blackening beaches, poisoning wildlife, and turning a thriving tourist region into the centre of an environmental emergency watched by the world.
Thirty years on, Black Waters: The Sea Empress Disaster tells the story of how a community and a coastline were devastated by the spill and how they both recovered.
The documentary unfolds in real time, using CGI reconstruction and featuring first hand, intimate testimonies from the people and organisations at the forefront of the investigation, impact, and salvage operation - including Iolo Williams; Roger Pinney, former BBC Environment Correspondent; and Pembrokeshire born First Minister Eluned Morgan, who was a Member of the European Parliament at the time.
Black Waters is not only the story of an ecological catastrophe, but of resilience, responsibility, and a community determined that what happened in 1996 should never be forgotten.
Publicity contact: MER
