The sailor died while performing his normal duties on the tanker. He was cleaning the anchor seat on the tug’s neck when the gas exploded.
‘There was fresh water in the mud tank, we were washing the internal system. We washed something out somewhere, probably some gas or slop residue. And some kind of chemical reaction started. Because the tanks were opened at 08:00, at 09:00 they were pumping water between the tanks and finished at 11:00,’ a source said.
At 13:00, the boatswain began changing the rubber, which required cleaning the seat on the neck with a metal brush. According to the source, the sailor sat on the deck and dangled his legs into the neck, and then an explosion occurred.
‘The column of fire was like a rocket, about four meters high, and it was this wave that picked him up. The sailor did five or six somersaults in the air, and then fell to the floor with all his might,’ the source said.
The man suffered multiple skull fractures, lung damage and second-degree burns over 60% of his body. An air ambulance helicopter took him to the hospital, he was still alive but unconscious. However, the injuries were incompatible with life, and the sailor died in the hospital the following day.