A Turkish seafarer succumbed to his injuries after an accident on board his vessel in the Mediterranean Sea.
A boiler exploded on the 13,200-dwt Torc (built 2010) at 1305 GMT on Monday, as the Besiktas Group’s chemical tanker was underway laden near the Messina strait, which separates Sicily from mainland Italy.
The company and Turkey’s Search and Rescue Coordination Centre (AAKK) immediately contacted Italian authorities to request the evacuation of the second engineer Mehmet Altas, who was injured in the blast.
A planned helicopter rescue, however, was dropped after news that Altas lost his life.
The Torc subsequently pursued its voyage towards its scheduled destination of Genoa, where it will arrive on Thursday, 11 January.
Local authorities will await the ship there to investigate.
The Besiktas Group said in a statement it would hire a third party to carry out an additional investigation into the incident, the results of which it pledged to share.
“We are deeply saddened by the loss of our colleague,” Besiktas said, extending condolences to Altas’s family, friends and colleagues.
The ship is under the technical management of Besiktas and is commercially managed by the group’s Sweden-based partner Alba Tankers.
Built at Selah Shipyard in Turkey, the Torc underwent three inspections last year, including an expanded one. According to Equasis, no deficiencies were found.
The Torc embarked on its current journey from the refinery of Agioi Theodoroi near Athens, Greece.
