Grand Erg Occidental Grand Erg Occidental The Grand Erg Occidental (, al-ʿIrq al-Gharbī al-Kabīr), (also known as the Western Sand Sea) is the second largest erg in northern Algeria after the Grand Erg Oriental. It covers an area of approximately . The sand dunes in the erg are formed by the wind, and can be up to high. Certain crescent-shaped dunes, known as barchans, are actually mobile; the wind can push these dunes as much as 20 to 30 m (65-100 ft) in one year. It is a desert natural region that receives less than 50 mm (1,96 in) of rainfall per year.
Erg (tug) generators) through the fog and rain, when she was run down by a Norwegian freighter – a steamship named "Norelg" (See Convoy SC 94 for more information on this ship). The tug immediately began sinking and as a result, 19 men lost their lives. On July 19, the Royal Canadian Navy utilized the floating crane "Lord Kitchener" to raise the wreck of "Erg" so the bodies of the deceased could be recovered. Only 10 bodies were discovered and removed from the wreck. "Erg"s sinking was and still is considered one of the worst accidents to have taken place in the