Story: Della Russel Ocloo
The Police have begun investigations into the death of an employee of the Saltpond Offshore Producing Company Limited (SOPCL), John K Asimeku, who got drowned in a tank on a crude oil storage vessel.
The deceased, an engineer with the MT Bonsu-Q vessel, drowned in the tank when he attempted to fix a decoupled hose to a pumping machine last Thursday.
The Saltpond Municipal Police Commander, Superintendent Emmanuel Oscar Narh-Odonkor, told the Daily Graphic yesterday that the body, which was retrieved from the storage tank about 12 noon on Saturday following the pumping of the crude from the tank, had been deposited at the Cape Coast Regional Hospital mortuary for autopsy.
A statement issued by SOPCL said Asimeku, who was also the head of the technical crew, commenced pumping of crude oil into the main tanks with a diaphragm pump because of the rough nature of the sea, which was precipitated by the heavy rainfall being experienced recently.
“Due to the roll, some quantity of crude oil flowed into the forward peak tanks of MT Bonsu-Q and in order to pump this crude oil back to the main cargo, the forward peak tanks covers were opened on July 4, 2011 to vent the tank and evacuate the gas present,” it said.
The statement added that two of the three member-crew objected to the operation due to the intensity of gas present in the working area, and therefore asked for more time to allow the tank to be vented properly.
The statement said Asimeku, on the other hand, over-ruled suggestions by his colleagues and charged the Pump Man, Mr James Duncan, to commence discharging the crude oil from the tank.
Asimeku, the statement said, initially succeeded with the installation of the discharge hose to the pump, but the hose got disconnected after some time, prompting him to go back into the tank for a second time in an attempt to re-fix it.
“When that also failed to work, Asimeku asked Mr Duncan to enter the tank and try to rectify the problem since he was tired, but the later refused on the grounds that it was still not safe to enter the tank,” the statement explained.
In his effort to rectify the problem, Asimeku climbed the tank for the third time and upon sensing the strong presence of gas, started jumbling up to the surface but “was unfortunately overwhelmed by the gas and fell off the ladder, causing him to fall into the tank containing the crude”.
Supt Odonkor, who described the incident as an industrial accident, said his outfit would however not hesitate to conduct further investigations into the safety operations of the company.
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