One labourer died in a tanker blast while the Smooth Sea 22 was berthed at a dockyard on the Mae Klong River in Thailand, on Tuesday, January 17.
About ten other people were also injured in the blast on board the Thai vessel, which was undergoing routine maintenance at Ruammit Dockyard at the time.
Four of the injured are seafarers serving on the oil carrier, the rest were dockyard workers, presumably welders.
The deceased was apparently one of a team of welders busy with repair work on the ship.
According to reports, the 6 500 deadweight tonnage vessel was loaded with about 20 000 litres of fuel oil when the explosion ripped through its midships area.
Firefighters managed to extinguish the blaze about an hour later.
Although the blast was nowhere near as severe as the explosion that destroyed a tanker off China’s coast north of the Port of Shanghai last week, it is the second on-board incident in as many weeks.
It is also the second incident involving a vessel this week (see report posted elsewhere today).
Thus far, 2023 has recorded six incidents at sea involving tankers, bulk carriers and container vessels.
Three of the incidents were serious, with two of them having led to vessel destruction.
