I sailed on the OMI Willamette (a crude oil tanker), which had a sister ship that exploded in port (I think it was down at Galveston, TX) back around 1993. A maintenance crew was working in one of the cargo tanks when a spark from the arc welder ignited a pocket of residual gas in the tank. Two or three people died in the incident, even though OSHA requirements were being followed.
Did a search, and the ships name was the OMI Charger. I haven't found any clear photo's (found a Coast Guard investigation report with some terrible photo-copied pictures scanned in) to show you the damage. Also, I found out that my ship, the Willamette, is now decommissioned. It was probably sold off to a foreign company.
Oh well. I'll see if I can find some old photo's of my own and try to scan them in.
