Translated material
Welding secrets
They tried to hide information about the fire on the ship in Baltiysk even from rescuers
On June 8 there was mourning in the Kaliningrad region....A loud explosion that was heard throughout Baltiysk, then multi-meter columns of fire and clouds of smoke - the emergency on the container ship "Yenisei" happened instantly. Everything happened very quickly; it took much longer to eliminate the consequences of the incident.
The fire on the ship, which was being repaired at the dock of the 33rd ship repair plant of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, could not be extinguished for about six and a half hours; more than 80 people and 15 pieces of special equipment fought the fire. The plant was not ready to withstand such intense combustion on its own. But I didn’t think to call for help right away. As a result, ten people were killed, three received injuries and burns of varying severity.
The Directorate of the Investigative Committee opened a criminal case under Part 2 of Article 143 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation “Violation of labor safety rules resulting in the death of a person through negligence.” The Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Navy, Vladimir Vysotsky, was personally involved in clarifying the circumstances of the incident. Governor of the Kaliningrad region Georgy Boos declared June 8 a day of mourning in the region.
A message about a fire on the Yenisei was received at the “01” control panel on June 5 at about 15.00 Moscow time. The ship was undergoing scheduled repairs in a floating dock on the territory of the 33rd ship repair plant. As a result of the explosion, a fire occurred in the engine room and hold spaces over an area of about 300 square meters. m. Ten people who were inside the vessel did not have time to get out. Three more were able to escape.
Factory worker Alexander Dmitrienko still cannot believe that he was “born in a shirt.” Just before the explosion, he began to go down to the skipper's room, deciding to talk to the senior mate. But he did not have time to do this - the impressive dimensions (82 by 11.6 m, with a displacement of more than 1.6 thousand tons) "Yenisei" shuddered from a powerful explosion.
“At first I panicked about where to run, because there was fire everywhere. I think jumping overboard is dangerous. And then I found a loophole, and together with the chief mate and the sailor we dived in and got out,” Alexander Dmitrienko told reporters about his rescue.
For the three survivors, June 5 is now their second birthday. Only Dmitrienko, however, escaped with “a slight fright” - the other two were seriously injured. All of them were taken to the Baltiysk hospital. Dmitrienko was soon released home, the senior mate of the Yenisei captain was diagnosed with severe fractures, and he was transported to a military hospital. And the third victim had burns on approximately 40% of his body. Doctors are encouraging: the burns are only superficial.
For the families of the ten other men who were on the Yenisei on June 5, this day became Black Thursday. The explosion was so strong that some workers were simply torn to pieces. Then the remains ended up in a high-intensity fire. Until the evening of June 7, the investigation was looking for the bodies of all ten (they even wanted to ask divers to examine the very dirty bottom near the dock - what if a blast wave threw people there?). But then they decided that perhaps the found body fragments belonged to several victims of the fire.
Negligence and sloppiness - this is how members of the Navy commission described what happened. In their opinion, the cause of the tragedy was a gross violation of safety regulations. The epicenter of the explosion, according to Navy Commander-in-Chief Vladimir Vysotsky, was a tank under the second bottom of the aft engine room, which contained 5.5 tons of diesel fuel. According to preliminary data, the dead workers tried to cut out part of the communications there using welding. Perhaps they also smoked. And the tightness of the insulation was insufficient. These are the versions voiced by Admiral Vysotsky. He placed all the blame for what happened on the administration of the ship and the plant - both did not comply with safety requirements. Moreover, according to the commander in chief, an emergency was inevitable. “If not on June 5, then on the 6th or 7th something would definitely have happened,” he explained.
“In all likelihood, the reason for what happened is that fuel was pumped out of the tank, then they decided to open it to clean it. At the same time, the bolts on the tank cover probably “acidified”, and to heat them up, the workers began to use a gas burner. this heating is over, everyone knows - the fuel vapors detonated, there was an explosion, then a powerful fire,” said a source in the plant administration.
He noted that this is not a version of the investigative authorities, but an expert point of view. “This assumption is indirectly confirmed by the fact that cylinders with acetylene and oxygen, which are used for welding, were lifted from the engine room. These cylinders cannot simply be delivered to the ship - this is done by the dock crane operator on the instructions of an official. There were cylinders on the ship. No one just throws them away - they installed them today, and a month later they started welding. No, that doesn’t happen. This means they were preparing for welding and, in fact, carried it out,” explained the interlocutor of Vremya Novostei. According to him, this version is also supported by the fact that among the dead, according to preliminary data, there is a 4th category gas welder.
Governor Georgy Boos, who was the first high-ranking regional official to visit the fire on June 5, spoke about his impressions of what he saw. “When naval representatives arrived at the scene, the flames were already 15 meters high above the ship. And the only means of extinguishing are three fire nozzles with water,” Mr. Boos said. In his opinion, the plant was not prepared for an emergency situation. In addition, special services were unable to join in the fight against the fire in time, as they did not receive timely information. “We ourselves learned about what happened a few hours later. And this will become a separate topic; we will discuss it with the management of the Ministry of Emergency Situations and the command of the Baltic Fleet. The plant administration never bothered to inform us about what happened. We received the information in a difficult way,” the governor said. According to him, the emergency became known only when people heard an explosion on the ship - it was no longer possible to hide the tragedy at the dock.
When it became clear that there were casualties, Georgy Boos, together with the leadership of the Baltic Fleet, Baltiysk and the plant, went to the families of the victims. All of them were promised help: money, improvement of living conditions, placement of children in kindergarten - whatever is needed. “One family is expecting a new addition on June 16th. So everything is different for everyone, we will decide,” the governor said.
A joint commission has been created with the leadership of the fleet, which will deal with these sad troubles. Private companies also did not stand aside - ENEKS CJSC (it owns the burnt container ship) and Rosbunker, which leases part of the territory of the ship repair plant. Both of them sent official letters saying they would help with money. JSC "ENEX" promised, in particular, 40 thousand dollars to each family of the deceased sailor. If necessary, the company will also cover funeral expenses. And Rosbunker promised to transfer 2.5 million rubles to a special account for the families of the victims.
Entertainment events were planned for June 8 in the Kaliningrad region - they wanted to celebrate Social Worker's Day, and in the resort Svetlogorsk they intended to solemnly celebrate City Day. All of them were cancelled, Governor Boos did not even go to St. Petersburg, where he intended to take part in the international economic forum.
The final conclusions about the perpetrators will be made by the regional department of the Investigative Committee. And the naval leadership, for its part, intends to seriously deal with the 33rd ship repair plant, where such an emergency occurred. As stated by the Commander-in-Chief of the Navy, Vysotsky, there have been complaints against this enterprise before. “In recent years it has not shown excellent performance. The management there was fired. Only this spring we blocked the growth of accounts payable and now we are finding out whether there is a commercial component here,” the admiral said. In addition, at the end of May, the executive director was “excommunicated” from his post for allowing six foreigners free access to the plant’s territory.
It is still unknown when the victims of the Yenisei fire will be buried - their identities have not yet been established. Genetic testing will help do this.