KOCHI: Factories and Boilers wing’s primary assessment points to leak of acetylene gas as the reason for the explosion on under-repair ONGC drill ship Sagar Bhushan at the Cochin Shipyard on Tuesday, but the Mercantile Marine Department (MMD) said it would be premature to draw any conclusion. “According to the oral statement by doctors who carried out the deceased’s autopsy, we understood all of them have died of inhaling toxic gas.
During ship repair work, there’s possibility for formation of only two gases -- acetylene and oxygen. Only acetylene becomes poisonous gas on burning. It strengthens our initial suspicion. But it can be confirmed only after postmortem reports are available,” said Factories and Boilers director P Pramod, who said the probe would focus on what led to non-detection of the gas leak. “We’ll conduct a detailed probe on whether there was any negligence in following the standard safety practices on the day,” he said.
The MMD, which also started a probe into the accident, said it would be ‘’premature and prejudiced’’ to enter into any conclusion on the cause. The MMD is carrying out the inquiry under the provisions of the Merchant Shipping Act 1958, as directed by the Director General of Shipping. “The inquiry is purely technical in nature and its primary objective is to avoid recurrence of such unfortunate incident,’’ said MMD principal officer-cum-joint director Ajith Kumar Sukumaran. Meanwhile, Cochin Shipyard Employees’ Union president N K Premachandran MP visited the accident site, and also met with the shipyard chairman and other senior officers.
He urged the shipyard management to check whether the deployment of unskilled or inexperienced labourers on contract caused this accident. Premachandran, who addressed the shipyard’s fire and safety staff, lauded their efforts in managing the emergency situation. Shipyard authorities said the country’s premier ship-building and repairing company was functioning as usual.
“The accident hasn’t affected any of our operations. The magnitude of the damage on the ship will be assessed by the ONGC team. However, it’s primarily understood there was no irreparable damage to the ship,’’ said the authorities. “Investigation by various agencies has just started. Besides no physical assets of the shipyard have been damaged and other works are in full swing,’’ they said. Meanwhile, the hospital authorities said the condition of Sreeroop, who suffered 45 per cent burn injuries, has improved and he is out of danger. He is conscious, but kept under ventilator support.