Honey soaked in water converted to CO2 gas, suffocating 3 people

On April 12, Mr. Nguyen My Quang - Director of the Department of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs of Binh Dinh province - visited and encouraged the families of 3 victims who died due to suffocation in the cargo hold of Thanh Cong 98 ship while anchored at the wharf of Tan Cang Mien Trung Joint Stock Company (Quy Nhon City, Binh Dinh) on the afternoon of April 11. Here, Mr. Quang personally handed over the support money of Binh Dinh province to the relatives of 3 million VND/person.

“We are waiting for the initial investigation results from the police. After that, we will set up an interdisciplinary inspection team including the Department of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs, the Department of Health and related units to investigate and verify the cause of the incident to resolve the regime in accordance with the law,” said Mr. Quang.

Thanh Cong 98 ship (red) anchored at Tan Cang Central Joint Stock Company wharf.

The leader of the Fire Police of Binh Dinh province said that the Thanh Cong 98 ship was a molasses carrier, and at the time of the incident, cargo hold number 6 was at a depth of 5m.

According to initial assessment, although the ship discharged water into the hold (to make it smoother when moving), the remaining honey in the hold fermented into alcohol, creating CO gas.₂and other gases, which deplete oxygen.

In rescue, if the oxygen supply is not enough within 30 seconds, a normal person can faint and die within 3 minutes. Therefore, when the first person went down to the hold, he immediately suffocated and fainted on the spot, the next two people went down to rescue him and faced the same situation. The captain also went down to rescue him when he heard the news, but when he reached the hold door, he also suffocated and tried to go back up.

According to the sailors on the Thanh Cong 98 ship, the ship docked at the Tan Cang Mien Trung Joint Stock Company wharf to carry molasses at the port. Many members on board took turns going down to the ship's hold to check valves and pipes before loading the goods onto the ship.

Initially, Nguyen Duc Quan and Pham Trong Hoa went down to the hold to check and found gas coming from the remaining molasses from the previous shipment. Hearing the cries for help from the hold, Bach Van Sau hurriedly brought a rope and jumped down, but Quan and Hoa were so suffocated that they could not hold the rope. The gas from the molasses was so strong that Sau also fell down the hold. In just about 2 minutes, 3 lives were taken from the ship, and no one could call for help anymore.

Two sailors and one mechanic on board Thanh Cong 98 died while checking the hold.

According to Mr. Nguyen Van Hung (41 years old, member of Thanh Cong 98 ship), the sailors have been on many sea voyages and experienced difficulties together, so the brothers on board understand and have ways to support and respond to unexpected accidents.

“However, this time it was too scary. We stood on the side of the ship listening to the cries for help but were helpless. We could only scream and call for help in despair. 30 minutes later, the police arrived at the scene. They went down to the basement to rescue us and found out that three of our teammates had died,” said Mr. Hung.

Currently, the victims' relatives are all present in Quy Nhon City. After completing the necessary procedures, it is expected that this evening the families will bring the victims' bodies back to their hometowns for burial.

The case is still being investigated by the authorities to clarify the cause, to be handled in accordance with the provisions of the law.

Previously, the Thanh Cong 98 ship carrying molasses docked at the Tan Cang Mien Trung Joint Stock Company (Quy Nhon City) on the morning of April 11 to transport goods. At noon of the same day, 9 crew members on board, including sailors and mechanics, were suddenly suffocated when they went down to the deck to clean the cargo hold, causing 3 deaths. The 3 victims were identified as Nguyen Duc Quan, Pham Trong Hoa (sailors) and Bach Van Sau (mechanic).