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Vessel 'should not have worked alone'



By Upstream staff 

Photo by SCANPIX


Frank Reiersen, the alternative captain of the anchor handling tug supply (AHTS) vessel Bourbon Dolphin, told a maritime inquiry into the vessel's capsize that she should not have been left to carry out anchor handling operations on her own, adding the vessel was better suited for work as an assistant anchor handler.

Reiersen, 36, was not working on the Bourbon Offshore Norway vessel during the incident, which occurred while it was carrying out work for the Transocean semi-submersible rig Transocean Rather at the Rosebank field, west of Shetland, on 12 April.

Three of the Bourbon Dolphin's 15-man crew died in the incident, while five, including skipper Oddne Arve Remoy's 14-year-old son, are missing, presumed drowned. The vessel sank on 15 April.

"The boat should never have been alone to carry the anchor chain," Reiersen told the inquiry, which is sitting in Aalesund. "The AHTS should not have been operating with such large stresses on it."

Reiersen was answering questions related to evidence heard earlier by the inquiry.

The inquiry's chief Knut Anders Oscarson said to Reiersen: "But the Bourbon Dolphin should have received help from the Highland Valour."

Reiersen answered: "Yes, but when (the Highland Valour) could not connect to the anchor chain, they should have called for assistance from another vessel."

Reiersen also told the probe that the Bourbon Dolphin was designed to be an assisting anchor handler, not the main vessel used for such operations.

He added he did not know why the ship was carrying out the main anchor handling work at the time.

Bourbon Offshore Norway boss Trond Myklebust, would not comment on why the ship was promoted for an assisting vessel to the main anchor handler.

"I don't know anything about it," he told Norwegian newspaper Dagbladet. "It was a decision that must have been taken on board (the vessel)."

He added: "We are gaining a picture of what happened, but we do not know the specific reason (for the accident), and it would be wrong to speculate."

Meanwhile, it emerged today that the maritime inquiry will be followed tomorrow by the naming of an investigative commission which will examine the circumstances surrounding the tragedy.

"All material from the maritime inquiry will be given to the commission. In my opinion the inquiry provided much valuable information that will be very helpful in the investigative commission's further work," maritime inspector Nils-Ivar Sordal said.

He told news agency NTB: "The inquiry aimed to question some of the survivors as quickly after the accident as possible. If we were to bring the companies mentioned (Transocean and Gulfmark Offshore, which owns the Highland Valour) here it would be necessary to take more time."


Thursday, 26 April, 2007, 13:43 GMT  | last updated: Thursday, 26 April, 2007, 14:11 GMT

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