Nghe An organizes provincial-level fire prevention and fighting drill at Ben Thuy Petroleum Port

On the morning of October 3, Nghe An Provincial People's Committee organized a firefighting and rescue drill at Ben Thuy Petroleum Port.

Attending the event were leaders of Nghe An Provincial Police, representatives of Departments, branches, Vinh City People's Committee, units and enterprises in the province.

Ben Thuy oil port is one of the key areas, where there are frequent trade activities of water vehicles, especially the export and import of gasoline and oil by large-volume, high-capacity oil tankers. Meanwhile, there are often many currents and whirlpools here, leading to many potential risks of fire, explosion and drowning accidents.

To serve the drill plan, the preparation work was carried out meticulously, thoroughly and methodically by the forces, mobilizing more than 250 participants and many modern means, equipment and weapons were used. During the training and drill, the Nghe An Maritime Port Authority organized traffic regulation and flow, prohibiting other watercraft from operating near the drill area.

The situation is that at 09:00 on X month Y year 2023, the oil tanker SG: 9716 with a capacity of 1,000 tons of oil had just received gasoline and oil from the Ben Thuy oil depot at the wharf area. While starting to leave the port, there was an electrical short circuit in the engine compartment, causing a fire.

Due to the enclosed engine compartment, it was difficult for the on-site firefighting force to reach the source of the fire, toxic smoke quickly covered the view, the fire quickly spread, endangering the health and lives of the crew members on board. When the fire broke out, there were 15 crew members and 1,000m³oil.

After discovering the fire, many crew members lost their composure, pushed and jostled each other to use the on-site fire extinguishers to put out the fire. However, due to panic, 5 crew members fell into the river, 2 crew members fell against the ship's side and were suffocated by smoke and could not move, requiring the assistance of the on-site fire fighting force to bring them safely to shore.

Firefighting and rescue work is divided into 3 phases.

Phase 1: Firefighters on the spot rushed to rescue 5 people who fell into the river, of which 3 were directly rescued, the remaining 2 were guided to swim safely to shore.

Phase 2:As the remaining 10 people on board continued to put out the fire, the fire spread to the area containing the mini gas tank in the kitchen area. Many loud explosions were heard, causing the 10 crew members who were participating in the firefighting to lose their composure and panic, jumping into the river and drifting away. At this time, 2 canoes and 2 rubber boats of the functional forces were present to rescue, directly rescuing 8 people, 2 people sank, forcing the mobilization of divers to rescue.

Phase 3:After successfully rescuing 15 people on board, all forces and vehicles were mobilized to put out the fire (during the rescue, there were still forces fighting the fire in parallel).

After nearly 1 hour since the fire and accident occurred, with close coordination between units, effective combination of fire fighting and rescue vehicles, the forces did a good job of searching and rescuing and completely extinguishing the fire.

Colonel Nguyen Duy Thanh - Deputy Director of the Provincial Police acknowledged and commended the spirit and smooth coordination of the forces participating in fire prevention and rescue at Ben Thuy Petroleum Port at the drill. At the same time, he hoped that the functional forces, localities, units and enterprises would continue to uphold the spirit of fire prevention and fighting, contributing to ensuring the safety of life and property for people and enterprises.

Images recorded by PV at the rehearsal: