Explosion on ship near oil platform off Bintulu kills two

SIBU (Aug 3): Two workers died and one injured in an explosion involving a ship near an oil platform in Bintulu last night.

According to Bintulu police chief Supt Nixon Joshua Ali in a statement, the police received an emergency call around 2am this morning of an explosion in the engine room of one of the ships near the platform.

“Initial investigation revealed that around 10.40pm on Aug 2, a total of 16 crew members working for an oil and gas company were startled by a loud explosion from somewhere below the ship’s deck.

“They went down to investigate, and saw smoke billowing out of the engine room with the main door blown off its hinges due to the force of the explosion,” he said, adding that the crew members immediately initiated a search and rescue operation.

Nixon said there was no criminal elements involved and classified the case as sudden death.

A spokesman for the Sarawak Fire and Rescue Department (Bomba) Operations Centre said three Emergency Medical Rescue Services (EMRS) members from the Bintulu Bomba station were deployed to the Bintulu Port jetty after receiving a call to assist Ministry of Health (MOH) personnel from Bintulu Hospital in handling the three victims who had been brought to the jetty.

“The EMRS team was instructed to stand by at the location in case they were needed to transport the victims to the hospital.

“Two victims were confirmed dead by MOH personnel at the scene, while the third victim was taken to Bintulu Hospital by an MOH ambulance,” he said.