Monday, January 7, 2008

Three crew airlifted to hospital as freak wave hits vessel

My good friend Freague Waves has a very interesting story and commentary posted about a reported large wave striking a ship.

By CHARLOTTE THOMSON

THREE offshore workers were airlifted to hospital yesterday after a freak wave hit their ship in a storm.
They were securing cargo on the storage offloading vessel Bleo Holm when the incident occurred, 50 miles north-east of Aberdeen.

The three were taken to Aberdeen Royal Infirmary by air ambulance but the extent of their injuries was not clear last night.

The vessel, owned by Talisman Energy (UK), had a crew of 70 on board.

A spokeswoman for the firm said: "We can confirm that four personnel have sustained injuries following an incident on board the Bleo Holm.

"All 70 people on board have been accounted for.

"The injuries were sustained after items broke free on the deck of the vessel during bad weather, with wind speeds in excess of 40 knots and a swell of nine metres.

"One person sustained minor injuries and has remained on board. Three personnel were airlifted onshore by helicopter for medical treatment."

Last year the firm admitted its safety procedures needed to be improved following the death of an employee on the same vessel on 6 January.

Matthew Grey, 59, of Darlington, suffered fatal injuries while fitting pipes in one of the cargo tanks.

Nick Walker, Talisman UK's vice-president, later admitted that some of its safety systems were not sufficiently robust.

The full article contains 228 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
Last Updated: 04 January 2008 9:38 PM

MARITIME NOTES

More on the Vanessa incident.

Relatives of Bulgarian sailors want to know more about safety of life rafts 6 January 2008 | 11:59 | FOCUS News Agency

Burgas. In the seaside city of Burgas the relatives of the Bulgarian sailors from the Vanessa ship have met with officials with the Executive Agency “Maritime Administration”, Focus News Agency’s correspondent reported.

Besides relatives, other seamen from Board Marine Burgas Company, which operated the ship, attended the meeting. One of them is Nikolay Stoyanov. He told journalists that the questions the relatives asked during the meeting were the same that we all had recently asked. It’s very important for the relatives to hear the answers from the administration officials. Most of the questions were about the life rafts and their safety.

“The life rafts are safe. Once they are in the water they cannot be overturned,” said seaman Ivan Hristov, brother of Adrian Hristov, one of the missing crewmembers.
Katya NIKOLOVA


RS