Dutch firm Boskalis reported that an incident on board a floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel has left one contract worker dead.
Five workers have been as seriously injured after ‘illegally’ consuming a ‘toxic’ cleaning liquid.
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The incident took place on an FPSO travelling from China to Brazil, towed by the Vanguard semi-submersible heavy lift drillship.
Boskalis said that the workers customarily used the cleaning liquid for degreasing purposes. It is assumed the liquid contained a mixture of ethanol and toxic methanol.
The company confirmed that all six of the workers involved in the incident are of Brazilian nationality.
According to the company, the victims alerted the FPSO crew 36 hours after they consumed the liquid, at the point at which serious signs of illness became visibly apparent.
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By GlobalDataBoskalis said: “The Vanguard changed course towards the coast of South Africa and medical evacuation by helicopter was organised. Regrettably one of the affected individuals passed away before the medical assistance was on site.
“The remaining five persons were successfully evacuated, hospitalised in Durban, South Africa and are successfully recovering from the intoxication.”
Boskalis noted that it has a strict ‘zero-tolerance policy’ with respect to the ingestion of alcohol on its subsea vessels.
The FPSO and Vanguard have now resumed their journey to Brazil.
In November, Boskalis signed a contract to transport the 91,000-tonne FPSO from China to Brazil aboard the BOKA Vanguard.
