Rig death offshore Mumbai on Dynamic Vision
Tragedy struck new build jack-up Dynamic Vision this month (April) when a crew member was killed in an accident while the rig was drilling for ONGC.
Vision is on her maiden drilling contract working for ONGC at the D1 marginal field in the western offshore. PETROWATCH learns the accident happened on April 4 at 12.45pm when the rig was pulling out.
Derrick man Sivarajan Thanulingam, 26, was on the ‘monkey board’ - a narrow passage alongside the derrick, 90 feet above the rig’s ‘floor’ - changing drill pipes. A drill pipe hit Thanulingam in the face and he fell down unconscious.
Drilling was suspended and he was taken to the sickbay where the doctor advised shifting him to a shore hospital. Thanulingam was immediately evacuated by helicopter to ONGC’s helicopter base at Juhu in north Mumbai.
Next he was rushed to the private Nanavati Hospital across the road. Unluckily the hospital could not admit Thanulingam as it was full so he was moved to the public Cooper Hospital nearby where he died that evening.
Thanulingam's family took his body for the last rites to their village at Kanyakumari in Tamil Nadu. Thanulingam was a derrick man since the age of 19 and previously worked aboard Transocean rigs.
Safety officials and ONGC have mounted parallel investigations into the incident. First information suggests the death was an accident and not due to negligence as Thanulingam was wearing his helmet and safety harness.
Rig owner Deepwater Drilling has paid cash compensation to his family “far in excess” of that paid to locally hired staff such as Thanulingam, says a company source. “One family member will also be employed by the company,” we are told.
