Vessel fire damage could have been far worse
Piecing together what happened aboard a now burnt-out Korean fishing vessel tied up in the Port of Timaru could take up to 18 months.
Transport Accident Investigation Commission (TAIC) spokesman Peter Northcote said there was a team of three staff on site to investigate the cause of the fire aboard the 70-metre Dong Won 701, which started on April 9.
‘‘We are working with Fire and Emergency New Zealand, the port, and ship representatives to develop a plan for safe entry onto the vessel to begin our investigations,’’ Northcote said.
Since the TAIC team’s arrival last week, it had conducted interviews with several relevant parties, including the ship’s crew, as it waited for access to the ship.
Northcote said they hoped to access the ship soon and while the site investigation could take several days, the findings of the investigation could take up to 18 months to be finalised.
Northcote said the TAIC’s reports would issue recommenda- tions as to what changes need to occur to avoid a similar incident occurring in future. It had no prosecutorial powers.
Fire and Emergency New Zealand (Fenz) area commander Steven Greenyer said the ship had been boarded up over the weekend to starve the fires of oxygen.
He was not surprised at the extent of the damage.
‘‘The boat is about 50 per cent damaged, but it could have easily been 100 per cent.
‘‘When we first arrived on scene, I thought it would be a week-long operation and it has been,’’ Greenyer said.
He said firefighters would keep pumping water off the ship.
‘‘That will help us to keep the ship afloat and means we can use more firefighting water on board if we need it.’’
However, he was hopeful it wouldn’t be needed, and the fire was not far from being completely out.
As of yesterday, there were still four fire crews at the scene: one from Timaru, two from Wellington and one from Ashburton. There were 18 firefighters in total at the port.
There were two separate ‘‘hotspots’’, at the front and back of the ship.
‘‘The team is really buoyant, they’re focused on what they need to do. They get their briefing and just go out there and do it,’’ Greenyer said.
He said the ship was well ventilated despite the damage.
It was not known what had caused the fire.
Greenyer said Fenz hoped to hand over the operation to TAIC very soon.
It is unknown how long the ship will remain in port.