EILTANK 77

General information

Course/Position

Latest news

Explosion damage getting repaired in Zwijndrecht

On July 15 the damaged "Julius Rütgers" entered the port of Zwijndrecht where the explosion damage suffered will be repaired at the shipyard of Bros. Kooiman under contract of the Eiltank Schifffahrt. The tank barge was destroyed on a length of 24 meters when two cargo tanks exploded. The ship's deck of these tanks was almost completely ruptured. The deck of adjacent tanks was distorted. On the slipway of Shipyard Gebr. Kooiman B.V., the vessel will be cut into pieces and the damaged midship area will be removed. In cooperation with the in-house design office, a new midship section will be designed and built at Kooiman’s. Also the cargo pipe systems on the main deck and the eletrical installation will be renewed by Kooiman as required. Dutch report with photo: http://www.schuttevaer.nl/nieuws/scheepsbouw-en-reparatie/nid25056-kooiman-repareert-mts-julius-rtgers.html

Body of third missing worker presumably found under water in tank area

During salvage work aboard the "Julius Rütgers" the body of the missing Polish worker seemed to have been found on Apr 21. Police and fire rescue were called to the New Ruhrort Yard in Duisburg in the foremidday after a corpse was discovered in one of the cargo tanks by workers of a Dutch salvage company. A team of 20 of the fire rescue was busy to recover the human remains from the the entrance area to deck 2 of the tanker. The dead had been trapped under a ladder, which was bent by the explosion. The site was submerged. Against 1 p.m. the fire department had completed the recovery. Whether it really was the missing workers, will have to be found out by an autopsy. The investigations of the police and prosecutors were going on. German report with photos: http://www.derwesten.de/staedte/duisburg/vermisster-werftarbeiter-nach-schiffsexplosion-wohl-gefunden-id11754463.html#plx1611308328

Investigations against two people launched

The police was investigating against two persons regarding the death of three workers in the explosion aboard the "Julius Rüthers", one responsible man from the shipyard and an employee of the owner Company Jaegers. On Mar 30 a certificate had been issued that the tanker was gas free, however, works which could cause fire or sparks were forebidden in the tank area. The owners had ordered works for which welding was needed. The sheerleg "Ajax" had commenced with the salvage of wreckage on Apr 8 in basin B which were fixed to the wires by divers of the Wuppertal Police. The work was interrupted at 12.30 p.m. due to technical problems when raising tank hatch 2. In the afternoon the work was finished. During the weekend the hatch 3 is to be recovered too from the bottom. During the salvage work no trace was found from the still missing third worker. German reports with photos: http://www.radioduisburg.de/duisburg/lokalnachrichten/lokalnachrichten/archive/2016/04/09/article/-1d2bf27cab.html http://www.rp-online.de/nrw/staedte/duisburg/gab-es-schweissarbeiten-vor-der-explosion-aid-1.5890528