Contractor dies in barge demolition operation

An intricate maritime
operation to obliterate
Margaret, the wrecked
barge, from the Cape West
coastline forever suffered
a tragic set-back last week
when a contractor was
tragically killed.
John Charles Mitchell
(55) of Durban and attached
to Blasting and Demolition
Services, apparently
fell and suffered a fatal
neck injury.
The South African
Maritime Safety Authority
(Samsa) has initiated an
enquiry into the tragedy,
temporarily suspending
the operation until further
notice last week.
Margaret, fresh from
the Chinese shipyards, was
on her maiden voyage to
her future home port of
Rotterdam via Durban when
she ran aground in savage
weather at Jacobsbaai on
June 24, last year.
One of two barges under
tow by the tug, Salvaliant,
she had broken free with
her cargo of 12 river barges
and two floating docks,
ending her short seagoing
life ignominiously – on
the rocks.
In January of this year,
after Margaret’s Dutch
owner Leo Boer had
spent an estimated
R21 million trying to
salvage the precious wreck
and finally given up, Samsa
mobilised SMIT Amandla
Marine to topple the wreck
in a “systematic manner by
means of implosion”.
Samsa tells FTW costs of
what will clearly be a costly
exercise will have to be
borne by the South African
taxpayer. A plan is however
in place to defer some costs
by selling the scrap – five
smaller, undamaged, barges.