NTSB issues marine accident brief report
NTSB has issued marine accident brief regarding fire on board towing vessel Shanon E.Settoon.
On March 12, 2013, at 1745 local time, the towing vessel Shanon E. Settoon was pushing a loaded tank barge in Bayou Perot (about 20 miles south of New Orleans, Louisiana) when it struck a submerged pipeline. The collision caused a release of liquefied petroleum gas, which entered the air intake for the main propulsion engines and ignited.
Image Credit: USCG
The Shanon E. Settoon was destroyed by the fire; the tank barge had limited fire damage and did not release any of the 93,000 gallons of crude oil it was carrying. The four crewmembers on board the Shanon E. Settoon escaped from the vessel, but one of them sustained second- and third-degree burns from which he died 1 month later.
NTSB determines that the probable cause of theexplosion and fire on board the Shanon E. Settoon was the introduction of petroleum gas into themain engines after the vessel struck and ruptured a submerged pipeline due to incompletenavigational information provided to the captain by the vessel company.
Numerous active or abandoned oil and gas pipelines traverse this Louisiana region. Wheninstalled, the pipelines are surveyed to ensure that they are buried at an appropriate depth.However, over time their coverage can decrease due to storms, shoreline changes, etc.,which makes voyage planning challenging and particularly reliant on up-to-date, accurateinformation. Many pipelines in the region do not appear on standard navigation charts andmariners do not know their exact locations. |
Further information may be found by clicking on the NTSB report
Source: NTSB