In the early hours of the 8th January 1979 a massive explosion rocked Bantry Bay and a lethal firestorm engulfed the French oil tanker, “Betelgeuse”, which was berthed at Whiddy Island oil terminal. Fifty people died in the inferno but only twenty seven bodies were ever recovered. In fact not one person aboard the ship nor any of the Gulf employees on the terminal jetty that night was saved. A Tribunal of Inquiry was established under High Court judge, Declan Costello. The Tribunal laid the blame for the disaster squarely on the shoulders of Total and Gulf Oil, the owners of the tanker and the oil terminal respectively. Some witnesses who gave evidence at the Tribunal were found to have lied. However the Tribunal was not able to establish in detail what transpired on the ship and jetty on that horrific night.