2 Die in Cargo Hold Of Timber Ship

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JK
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2 Die in Cargo Hold Of Timber Ship

Post by JK »

It is beyond me why tank deaths still occur on ships. With sealed gas detectors available now, that are good for 2 years and portable BAs, this should never happen with good ship management.
Yet, time and again, you see it in newspapers,
Whangarei: Two dead, one injured in shipping incident
03-May 17:38
The log ship TPC Wellington which two men died aboard, tied up at Marsden Point Whangarei (NZPA)

Two crewmen are dead after attempting to fix a leak in a ship's timber hold at Marsden Point wharf near Whangarei this afternoon.

Another crewman is in a serious condition following the accident, which happened about 5pm at Northport, 38km south east of Whangarei, said St John Ambulance action team manager Kathryn Cobb.

The men were aboard the logging ship TPC Wellington.

The injured man was flown by helicopter to Whangarei Hospital, police say he is in a stable condition.

Police said details were sketchy but a crew member of Panamanian-registered bulk carrier TPC Wellington, which was loading logs, became trapped in the hold, a second member of the crew became trapped attempting to rescue him and a third went into the hold after them both.

Police say two more crewmen went into the hatch to rescue the trapped men and found two of them deceased and the third in a critical condition - rescuers had to use breathing apparatus to access the men.

The two deceased crewman are Korean and Burmese.

Northport chief executive Jon Moore told NZPA the deaths were a "terrible" event.

He understood the crew had entered an enclosed space containing logs. The logs had not been fumigated but the space may have become oxygen depleted through a natural organic process.

The accident was an on board issue and not ship loading or port-related and Maritime New Zealand would further investigate the accident, he said.

Police and the Department of Labour are also investigating.

NZPA / 3 News
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