Explosion on board Emerald Princess today

[kiwijohn]

It has just been reported that a crew member has died when a a gas bottle exploded on board Emerald Princess at 5pm tonight in Port Chalmers. A Carnival spokesperson said the "person killed was doing work on the hydraulic launch system of tender vessels". The ship has been delayed while investigations are carried out. How safe are gas bottles on board HAL ships???

[chengkp75]

It has just been reported that a crew member has died when a a gas bottle exploded on board Emerald Princess at 5pm tonight in Port Chalmers. A Carnival spokesperson said the "person killed was doing work on the hydraulic launch system of tender vessels". The ship has been delayed while investigations are carried out. How safe are gas bottles on board HAL ships???

 

Would need some more information to really understand what happened. Compressed gas cylinders are supplied to the ship by shore vendors, and must meet UN, IMO, and local regulations regarding inspection intervals, and all gas cylinders require a 10 year hydrostatic pressure test.

 

To me, it sounds like the crew was working on or charging the accumulator cylinder on the lifeboat davit (this cylinder uses nitrogen gas to provide a reserve of pressurized oil to operate the davit if all power fails. Whether the charging device or hose between the nitrogen supply cylinder and the accumulator blew out and killed him or whether the accumulator blew up (extremely rare), I don't know, but the accumulators are inspected quarterly by the crew, annually by the class surveyor, and the 10 year hydro test.

[chengkp75]

Olay, I looked at the threads and photos on the Princess board, and it was a portable nitrogen cylinder. From the photos, it is mainly intact, on the pier, which leads me to believe what happened is the most common accident with compressed gas cylinders: either it was knocked over or dropped and damaged the valve in the top of the cylinder, and the cylinder takes off like a rocket as the gas escapes from the cracked valve. The cylinder most likely struck the crew member, killing him, and the loud sound people reported was the cylinder crashing into the parts of the ship before it flew out and landed on the dock. This type of accident can happen to any cylinder, whether it has just been inspected or whether it is several years old. This is less about cylinder safety than proper work practices.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Thank you for the information.

I will have to go over to the Princess board and see the pictures.

[kazu]

Sorry to hear this kiwijohn.

 

Thanks for letting us know.

 

Prayers for the crew member and their family and friends.

[ger_77]

How awful - so sad for the crew member's family and friends.

 

Smooth Sailing! :) :) :)

[jhannah]

Very sad. Prayers for the deceased's family.

[Copper10-8]

Very sad event! Thoughts and prayers are with the crew member's family.

[summer slope]

Very sad.

 

 

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[easyboy]

Prayers for the family of the deceased crew.

Thanks chengkp75 for explaining how it could have possibly happened.

[erewhon]

The Emerald left Port Chalmers 9.08 pm last night(Friday) after the investigators were finished on board.

We watched her passing Taiaroa Head on the albatross webcam. The bird turned it's head to watch the well lit ship pass by.

Police are investigating the accident on behalf of the coroner.