Second blast in the last one week in South Korean ship, Royal Diamond 7.
Royal Diamond 7, berthed in the Mumbai harbour at the Pir Bhau jetty, has been witness to a second explosion in less than a week. And as was the case with the first explosion of March 17, the second too appears to have been caused by a chemical leak.
South Korean national Mun Hyeon Seok, who suffered 89 per cent burns, died while he was being shifted from JJ to Masina hospital, said Mumbai port trust spokesperson Vinay Joglekar. Presently two other foreign patients are admitted in Masina hospital and are said to be stable. According to the doctors at St George Hospital, two of the four Indian burn victims bought in have been put on ventilators.
But though the vessel had chemicals on board, no major fire broke out this time around. “It looks like the explosion took place because of some gas leakage. The ship was carrying chemicals which it had discharged earlier, but some leftover chemical was present,” said Indian Coast Guard spokesperson, RV Prasad. The explosion took place in the same store where the last one occurred.
The Director General (DG) of Shipping has ordered a probe. This ship was taken to the outer anchorage after the first fire and explosion took place last week. Some of the ship’s employees were in the middle of the cooling operation at the time.
Royal Diamond 7 was reportedly present at the New Pir Pau berth at the port to discharge a consignment of 2000 tons of Toluene imported by Aegis Chemicals Limited. The vessel had discharged the cargo and was carrying out a stripping move for sailing out. Before the ship could set out of the pier, the explosion happened at its fore. The vessel was shifted from the jetty to a safer location in the harbour after the last week’s explosion.
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