CSL announces Rs10 lakh ex-gracia for families of 5 dead in accident

Cochin Shipyard has announced an immediate ex gratia payment of Rs10 lakh for the families of the five people killed in the blast onboard oil rig Sagar Bhushan on Wednesday (See: Blast on ONGC ship at Cochin Shipyard kills 5, injures 11).

Five people were killed and 7 others were injured in the fire incident onboard Sagar Bhushan, an oil rig of ONGC, undergoing repairs at Cochin Shipyard.

CSL chairman and managing director said all treatment expenses of the injured will be met by the company as per its existing policy. All necessary assistance is being provided by the company to those affected and the entire senior leadership is monitoring the process.  Senior civil and police officials are on the ground and appropriate actions is being taken, he said.

The ship Sagar Bhushan arrived at Cochin Shipyard on 7 December 2017 for drydock repairs. It was drydocked on 12 January 2018 and it was to be undocked on 28 February 2018. The work was scheduled to be completed by 7 April 2018.

CSL said it received a phone call at around 0915, in the morning informing that there was a gas leakage near the AC compartment area of the ship undergoing repair in the drydock No 1. Although instruction was passed on to stop all hot work, the explosion had already occurred in the forward area of ship, near to the AC plant by then, CIL said.

However, fire tenders were rushed to the ship immediately, along with ambulance. The firemen onboard the ship and the fire tender that reached the spot after the blast worked together to extinguish the fire, it said.

CSL also said it places health, safety and environment (HSE) as one of its core values in operations and issues HSE alerts to its workforce besides the regular briefings.