Shipyard explosion kills two

An accidental explosion at a Philippine shipyard run by South Korea’s Hanjin Heavy Industries killed two workers and injured four others yesterday, officials said.

Sparks from an electrical grinding machine ignited some used oil inside a container ship under construction causing a blast and a small fire. The shipyard is in Subic Bay, a former military base northwest of Manila.

“The explosion in a highly contained area instantly killed two workers and four others were injured. The fire was put out by emergency workers,” said Armand Arreza, Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority administrator.

The ship was about 60% finished when the accident happened and Arreza said work at the affected dry-dock was suspended and would resume after the safety of the workers was guaranteed.

He said a formal inquiry would be conducted to determine whether Hanjin or its sub-contractors had been at fault.

Hanjin declined to comment on the incident.

The South Korean group has a $1.68bn shipyard project in Subic Bay and was planning to build a second shipyard costing $2bn on the southern island of Mindanao.

The Subic facility had orders for 28 container vessels, three bulk carriers and two oil tankers as of June last year.

Source:RamblerNews