Five people, including four port workers and port paramedic, died on board of aggregates carrier SUMIEI, docked at Banjarmasin port, south Kalimantan, at night Feb 24. The ship was loaded with palm kernel, dockers went into hold shortly after hatches were open, notwithstanding crew warning, that the holds are to be ventilated for some hours. All five were taken to hospital with hypoxia, all were found dead. Police launched an investigation, suspecting negligence, which led to tragic accident.
Palm kernel cargo hazards include oxygen depletion:
Oxygen depletion and high carbon monoxide levels present a serious risk to the safety of the crew and/or any stevedores entering the cargo spaces. It is necessary to undertake extensive ventilation and gas monitoring to ensure safe working conditions prior to entering the cargo spaces or accesses.
GARD: http://www.gard.no/web/updates/content/22544999/carriage-of-palm-kernel-shells
Oxygen depletion and high carbon monoxide levels present a serious risk to the safety of the crew and/or any stevedores entering the cargo spaces. It is necessary to undertake extensive ventilation and gas monitoring to ensure safe working conditions prior to entering the cargo spaces or accesses.
GARD: http://www.gard.no/web/updates/content/22544999/carriage-of-palm-kernel-shells
Aggregates carrier SUMIEI, IMO 8718689, dwt 1196, built 1987, flag Indonesia, manager Indo Shipping PT, Jakarta.
AUTHOR
My name is Nikolay Torkin, I’m Merchant Marine Master, presently in command of feeder container ship trading in South East Asia. My family lives in Prague, Czech Republic. Mikhail provides me with daily accidents reports, I send him information with regards to accidents and container ships.
MARITIME BULLETIN
Maritime and Crimean Shipping News
http://maritimebulletin.net/2018/02/25/5-died-on-ship-loaded-with-palm-kernel/
With great regret, we relate the news of multiple fatalities aboard the Indonesian flagged M/V SUMIEI yesterday at the Indonesian Port of Martapura Baru. While the attached Google Translate version of the original story is imperfect, it conveys the story well enough.
In what appears to be the claiming of five lives (four longshoremen and one paramedic) by an oxygen deficient atmosphere within a ship's hold laden with a cargo of palm kernels, we are reminded, once again, about the dangers associated with entry into untested, but potentially dangerous, enclosed spaces.
Other reports coming to Blueoceana Company buttress the position that crew members aboard M/V SUMIEI had warned the dockworkers to wait until the recently opened hold had been ventilated before commencing their work. It seems apparent that someone else had other priorities.
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