The series where people recall their presence at a major moment. They can say, I was there.

In this programme, Mai Davies takes us back to the night of February 15th 1996, when the grounding of the 147,000-ton supertanker Sea Empress off Milford Haven made global headlines. In the days after the Sea Empress hit the rocks, more than 70,000 tonnes of crude oil haemorrhaged into Welsh waters, threatening one of the most beautiful and environmentally sensitive coastlines in Europe and the livelihoods of those who depended on fishing and tourism.

Mai invites three people who experienced the Sea Empress disaster from different perspectives to relive the worst environmental disaster Wales had ever seen. The first man on board was Joe Small, at the time he was the UK’s on-scene commander for all major marine oil incidents. Joe had the unenviable task of overseeing the salvage operation.

The first news photographer at the scene was Huw Evans. The pictures he took from the air were splashed across the world showing the enormity of the disaster.
And a key part of the community response was driven by solicitor Paul Cowper who also fought to make sure it couldn’t happen again.

We hear how the salvage operation had more twists and turns than a Hollywood movie; how photographer Huw got closer than any other journalist to the stricken tanker and how nature fought back against the most devastating oil spill in Welsh history. Show less