7 Crew in Intensive Care as Saipem Reveals Cause of Explosion On Pipelay Vessel

Saipem have released some details on the cause of the explosion onboard their Israfil Huseynov pipelay vessel That left 14 of their crew injured. The accident, first repoted by Oil and Gas People yesterday, happened in the Caspian Sea.

Saipem issued the following:

San Donato Milanese, May 9, 2019 – Yesterday evening, as repoeted by a local company spokesperson, an explosion occurred on the vessel “Israfil Huseynov” operated by Saipem for pipelaying in the Caspian Sea in the framework of the Shah Deniz II project. In the early hours of this morning, the transportation to hospital of the fourteen people involved in the accident, all employees of the Saipem Group, was completed.

The incident was related to maintenance operations on an item of equipment during pipe-laying activities.

Seven of the fourteen injured are in intensive care due to the burns suffered. The injured people are of Italian, English, Azerbaijani, Rumanian, Malaysian and Croatian nationality.

In expressing its sympathy to the employees and their families, Saipem will continue to ensure the immediate repatriation of those who have suffered the least serious injuries and the transfer of the other injured people to specialized medical centres.