File: The former skipper of the Exxon Valdez Joseph Hazelwood listens to testimony recently during his trial, February 21, 1990. (Bettmann / Getty Images) ANCHORAGE, Alaska - Joseph Hazelwood, the captain of the Exxon Valdez oil tanker that ran aground more than three decades ago in Alaska, causing one of the worst oil spills in U.S.
history, has died, the New York Times reported. He was 75.He died in July after struggling with COVID-19 and cancer, his nephew Sam Hazelwood told the newspaper for a story reported Friday.
Hazelwood's family members and business associates did not respond to The Associated Press for comment.The Exxon Valdez, a 987-foot (301-meter) tanker, grounded on Alaska’s Bligh Reef at 12:04 a.m.
on March 24, 1989, spewing nearly 11 million gallons (41 million liters) of oil into the rich fishing waters of Prince William Sound.