Sea Safety briefs

Gassing Tragedies

Six men have died in enclosed spaces aboard British ships in recent months, prompting the UK Marine Accident Investigation Branch to publish an urgent safety bulletin, Lloyds List reports.

The Marine Accident Investigators' International Forum, reports 120 fatalities and 123 injuries resulting from entry into enclosed spaces since 1991.

Three recent tragedies responsible for the safety bulletin include the death in a chain locker last September of three experienced seafarers aboard an emergency response and rescue vessel.

This was a 'classic' gassing incident, with the first man collapsing in the oxygen-depleted space, a shipmate hastening to rescue him and being overcome and a third man perishing after removing his breathing apparatus.

Two men aboard the general cargo ship Sava Lake died in a store adjacent to a cargo hold containing steel turnings, while in the third incident in June, an experienced seafarer died in an almost empty ballast tank aboard the cruise ship Saga Rose. The forum says the deaths highlight the need for measures to reduce loss of life, such as the identification and marking of all potentially dangerous spaces.

8 killed in LNG ship blast

Eight people were killed and four injured in an explosion and fire on a gas carrier under repair in Greece in July, Fairplay magazine reports.

The Panamanian-flagged, Greek-owned LNG carrier Friendship Gas was under repair in Perama, 19 kilometres west of Athens, when welding caused the explosion.

Firefighters battled for more than four hours to keep the fire from spreading to a neighbouring vessel.

Tradewinds reports the blaze is the second tragedy to strike the yard in less than a year. Two people were killed at Perama in July last year.

About 1,000 shipyard workers converged on the Merchant Marine Ministry in a protest over safety at the yard. Police used tear gas after some protestors threw rocks and ripped up fences.

"Shipping rates are up and ship owners are always exerting pressure for repairs to be carried out as quickly as possible," metalworkers union representative Sotiris Polikoyiannis told Flash Radio.