The bodies of three crewmembers who went missing after an explosion on the Cidade de São Mateus FPSO last month have been found, the vessel operator BW Offshore announced today (3 March).
The death toll from the explosion has now risen to nine. BW Offshore said that two workers still remain hospitalized, but are in stable condition. One Indian national was among the nine victims of the blast, with the majority the workers being native to Brazil.
The FPSO unit was working the Camarupim and Camarupim Norte fields, in Espirito Santo state, about 120km offshore Brazil, for Petrobras, when the explosion occurred on 11 February around 12:50 p.m. local time. BW Offshore said there were a total 74 people on board at the time of the incident.
BW Offshore CEO Carl Arnet said of the news, “The search operation that has been underway for the past three weeks has come to a close with the recovery of the last of our missing men. Time, support and focus is still required on follow up for the crew and families affected, and our teams are pulling together to do what is needed.
“We are grateful for the tireless support we have received from our client Petrobras and partners, as well as the local authorities. Our focus continues on getting to the root cause of the incident. We are also in discussions about reinstating the unit and finding continued employment for our crew,” he continued.
While no official cause has been announced, a local union called Sindipetro-ES initially reported that the explosion was due to a gas leak in the pump room.
Image: BW Offshore
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