Fatal accident in waters off Libya after workers plunged into sea

An accident during vessel decommissioning operations in waters offshore Libya has resulted in the deaths of at least three Tunisian workers.

According to reports from Libya’s Mellitah Oil & Gas, the accident happened last Friday, 5 November 2021 during the process of dismantling and hauling of the floating storage and offloading (FSO) vessel Sloug when one of the chains binding it snapped, plunging the workers into the sea. They were employees of a Tunisian contractor, which was carrying out maintenance work on the FSO. The vessel was sold in a tender process, including the equipment and deposits of processed crude oil in the tanks.

The vessel, which has been out of service since 2017, is located on the Mellitah-operated Al-Bouri field located offshore Libya.

After a tender process, the vessel was handed over for a period of three months to the contractor. Namely, under the tender, the buyer was responsible for the FSO during the disconnection operations and towing at sea until it reaches its final destination.

Mellitah emphasised that the buyer has now been urged to start the hauling process as soon as possible. The company also said that the investigation into the accident has been launched in cooperation with authorities.

According to official information, three workers died as a result of the incident while one is missing and another one is injured.