Three men died in a hold full of timber. The air had no oxygen, and each went in to save the other.
On 26 May 2014, in Goole docks in England, the chief officer of the cargo ship Suntis went into a cargo hold to prepare it for discharge and collapsed. Two crew members went in after him. All three died of oxygen deficiency.
Words in this case
- enclosed space
- A space with limited openings and poor ventilation where the air may be dangerous.
- oxygen deficiency
- Too little oxygen in the air to keep a person conscious.
- atmosphere test
- Measuring oxygen, flammable and toxic gas before entry.
- standby person
- The crew member who stays at the entrance during an entry and raises the alarm.
- breathing apparatus
- Equipment with its own air supply for entering a dangerous atmosphere.
More words like these in the glossary and in listening practice.
What happened
Suntis had a cargo of timber. Timber and other organic cargoes use up the oxygen in a closed hold as they slowly oxidise; a hold that has been closed for a voyage can have almost no oxygen left in it, and the air looks and smells like air.
The chief officer entered the hold access space to prepare for discharge without testing the atmosphere. He collapsed. The master and a crew member went in to help him and collapsed too. Shore workers and rescue services could not save them.
The UK Marine Accident Investigation Branch found that the atmosphere had not been tested, that the entry was not planned as an enclosed space entry, and that the rescue attempts without breathing apparatus turned one death into three. The Branch noted that the same thing had happened before on other ships, including three deaths in a chain locker on the Viking Islay in 2007, and that it keeps happening.
Why it happened
- The hold atmosphere was oxygen-deficient because of the timber cargo, and nobody measured it.
- The entry was treated as routine, not as an enclosed space entry with a permit, a test and a standby person.
- The rescuers went in without breathing apparatus; the instinct to help killed them.
What to remember on board
- A cargo hold with timber, grain, coal, steel or vegetables is an enclosed space; so is a hold access, a chain locker, a duct keel or a tank.
- Permit, ventilation, atmosphere test at several levels, standby person, communication: no shortcuts because it is only for a minute.
- If a person collapses inside, raise the alarm and call the rescue team with breathing apparatus. Do not go in.
- Drills for enclosed space rescue are required every two months; do them as if it were real.
What changed afterwards
SOLAS was amended to require enclosed space entry and rescue drills every two months, and portable atmosphere testing instruments on every ship.
Three questions
The kind of questions a knowledge test asks about this case. Keys 1 to 4 answer, Enter goes on.
Read more
Source: Fatal accidents on board the general cargo vessel Suntis in Goole, Marine Accident Investigation Branch (UK), report 2015. Find the report.
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Plain-English summary of an official investigation report. Facts and findings are the investigators'; the wording is ours. Nothing here is legal advice or a substitute for the report itself.