TANK BARGE B-924 FIRE AND EXPLOSION WITH LOSS OF LIFE, GREENVILLE, MISSISSIPPI, NOVEMBER 13, 1975. MARINE ACCIDENT REPORT

About 1245 on November 13, 1975, the tank barge B-924 caught fire in one of its cargo tanks and exploded while being repaired at the Brent Towing Company's repair facility in Greenville, Mississippi. The explosion blew the bow rake away from the vessel with such force that large sections of debris were deposited up to 500 yards away, and internal bulkheads, shell plating, and strength members in promixity were severely distorted. A secondary fire engulfed the forward portion of the B-924. The fire, fueled by cargo residues in the B-924, required over 1 1/2 hours of intensive firefighting to extinguish. The fire and explosion killed four persons and injured two others. The adjacent barge B-428 was damaged slightly. The National Transportation Safety Board determines that the probable cause of this casualty was the failure of a National Fire Protection Association certified marine chemist to insure that the tank barge B-924 was safe for electric arc welding repairs. Contributing to the accident were the inadequate method currently used for certifying and regulating marine chemists and the absence of adequate mandatory standards or regulations to insure a safe working environment in vessels being repaired.

• Corporate Authors:

  National Transportation Safety Board

  800 Independence Avenue, SW
  Washington, DC  United States  20594
• Publication Date: 1978

Media Info

• Pagination: 14 p.

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Atmosphere; Cleaning; Fatalities; Fire fighting; Hazards; Human error; Safety; Storage tanks; Tank barges; Water transportation crashes; Welding
• Old TRIS Terms: Explosive vapor ignition; Gas freeing; Hazardous atmospheres; Ship casualties; Ss b-924; Tank cleaning; Welding safety
• Subject Areas: Maintenance and Preservation; Marine Transportation; Safety and Human Factors;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00173356
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: National Transportation Safety Board
• Report/Paper Numbers: NTSB-MAR-78-2
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Apr 26 1978 12:00AM