Maritime NZ, New Zealand’s maritime safety agency, is seeking a compensation of $812,500 for the family of a Filipino seafarer who lost his life from a gas cylinder explosion onboard the cruise ship ‘Emerald Princess’ in February 2017.
The Princess Cruise Lines Limited is facing charges for the death of Allan Navales that occurred on February 2017. Maritime New Zealand demands the Cruise Line to pay the amount of $800.000 for the family of the deceased, citing loss of income as his wages were a significant help for them.
Maritime New Zealand supported that, in addition to the accident, the company had not fully complied with all requirements of New Zealand’s Maritime Transport Act, putting the seafarers’ lives at risk.
On 9 February 2017, the Emerald Princess was anchored at Port Otago in New Zealand. Allan Navales was asked, along with another crew member, to carry out maintenance work, by checking the pressure of nitrogen cylinders. Navales was close to a bank of 4 high-pressure nitrogen cylinder while Bernabes Santos was refilling and testing them. The explosion of a cylinder, which contained compressed nitrogen, killed Navales. Later on, a second tank was blown clear of the ship and landed on the pier. Yet, it did not hit any bystanders and no passengers or other crewmembers were injured in the incident.
According to metallurgists contacted by TAIC, the failure had occurred as a result of overload caused by corrosion thinning. Although the cylinder was checked two weeks before the accident, it had not been flagged. Also, a number of other cylinders on the ship that were observed had similar corrosion-related damage. A corrosion damage was also seen on the accumulator, the pressurised vessel connecting the nitrogen cylinders and the stored energy system.
Following the accident, Princess Cruises immediately replaced all of its cylinders used in the ship’s lifeboat launch and recovery system. Also, it reviewed similar cylinders across its fleet and updated its maintenance and training programs.
