BOURBON RHODE

scrapped

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Latest news

Survivor secured substantial compensation

A surviving crew member of the 'Bourbon Rhode' has secured substantial compensation for the ordeal, the International Transport Workers’ Federation said on Sep 20, 2021. The offshore tug, with 14 crew on board, sank in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean on Sep 26, 2019, en route from Las Palmas to Georgetown in heavy weather from the category 4 Hurricane Lorenzo. Three of the vessel’s crew members were subsequently rescued from a life raft. The bodies of another four were recovered, and seven were never found. Searchers also located an overturned fast rescue craft from the vessel. One of the survivors was the Ukrainian national Yevgeniy Nikolov. He suffered injuries in the incident and has been unable to return to working at sea. But working with the Marine Transport Workers’ Trade Union (MTWTU) of Ukraine, he was able to obtain a substantial amount in compensation.

Report: Lost ship was not fit to sail

A year and a half after the "Bourbon Rhode" sank and 11 people died, survivors were now saying that the tug was in poor condition before the fateful Atlantic crossing. This emerged from an interim report by the Ministry of Transport on the causes of the accident. All three survivors said they were surprised by the poor condition. One survivor stated that a senior member of the engine crew was concerned that the technical condition of the ship would not allow it to cross the Atlantic. The originally hired first officer left the shipyard due to the poor condition of the ship. His replacement also complained about the overall condition of the ship, said the report which was published on April 15, 2021. The work that was supposed to be carried out in the shipyard was not carried out or completed due to a lack of materials or tools. The chief engineer reported to the captain prior to departure that the ship was not fully ready for the planned voyage due to the repairs and maintenance work to be done. A hatch that had not been repaired allowed water to enter the engine room before the hurricane hit. The tug was part of the fleet of the French company Bourbon Offshore, but was registered via a subsidiary in Luxembourg shortly before its last voyage from Las Palmas on the Canary Islands to Guyana. The "Bourbon Rhode" had worked in the oil fields off the Nigerian coast for more than a decade and was registered in Luxembourg while undergoing extensive maintenance at a shipyard in Las Palmas before leaving for her next assignment. Accident investigators interviewed the two Ukrainians and one Russian who were rescued from a life raft in the middle of the ocean two days after a Category Four hurricane sank their ship. The remaining crew of ten Ukrainians, a Croat, a Russian, a South African and a Filipino were either confirmed dead or never found. Conclusions as to why the ship sank halfway between the African and South American coasts on Sep 26, 2019 will not be drawn until a later stage of the investigation, the report said. Several safety recommendations have already been issued by the Luxembourg authorities.

Active search stopped

Throughout the week, the search for survivors of the "Bourbon Rhode" was intensive and extensivied to try to detect a sign after on the one hand the report of a potential rocket and on the other hand the satellite photo obtained from the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA). These new searches have yielded no results. As the search operations have not found any trace of life or life rafts for more than 10 days despite a device of exceptional magnitude it was decided to stop the active SAR operation on Sep 12 which lasted 16 days and move to an active watch phase during which the CROSS AG will mobilize any vessel crossing in the area to set up a proper watch.