Jurong rig back in upright position, probe to start: Sembcorp Marine
The jack-up rig in Jurong that tilted and injured 89 workers in December has been restored to its original position, Sembcorp Marine announced Tuesday.
Investigations by Jurong Shipyard and the authorities into the cause of the industrial accident will finally be able to take place, the publicly-listed rig maker said in a statement.
Responding to Yahoo! Singapore’s queries, Sembcorp confirmed that all the injured workers were treated and discharged as of 18 December, with all medical expenses fully absorbed by the company.
Labelled by Senior Parliamentary Secretary for Manpower Hawazi Daipi as “one of the worst industrial accidents we have seen in recent times”, about 980 employees were evacuated on 3 December last year after the rig being constructed suddenly tilted 10 degrees forward, knocking workers off balance.
Several workers told reporters that they had escaped by jumping off the rig into the sea.
As the evacuation went underway, the rig continued to tilt forward, finally stopping at an angle of about 17 degrees.
Preliminary investigations showed that there was a brake malfunction on one of the three legs of the rig called the “forward leg”.
In a statement following the accident, Sembcorp said that all three legs of the rig had passed the maximum load test of 9,000 tonnes before work commenced.
Related links:
Almost all 89 injured Jurong rig workers discharged
Jack-up rig stabilised
