Coast Guard Investigates Fatal Confined-Space Accident on Alaskan Barge

The U.S. Coast Guard has named two tugboat crewmembers who passed away in a confined-space incident aboard a barge near Ketchikan earlier this month.

On March 15, the tug Chukchi Sea was operating about 25 miles to the northwest of Ketchikan with the barge Waynehoe, a deck barge with landing ramps and a crawler crane. At about 0915 hours that morning, the Coast Guard's Sector Southeast Alaska command center received a mayday call reporting that the tug crew had lost contact with four crewmembers who had gone into a confined space on the barge.

The command center dispatched a rescue boat with volunteer firefighters augmenting the boat crew to respond to the scene. While they were en route, Chukchi Sea's remaining crew managed to extract two survivors from the confined space. They also recovered the body of one unresponsive crewmember, who was later pronounced deceased.

Another tug company provided a tow to move the Waynehoe to a pier in Ketchikan. After the vessel was safely moored at the pier, responders went below into the confined space and recovered the body of the second deceased crewmember.

The Coast Guard identified the victims as Ben Fowler, a crewmember; and Sidney Mohorovich, an equipment mechanic for the tug's operating company.

Mohorovich's father, Todd Mohorovich, told the AP that the Coast Guard had informed him after the casualty that there was a high level of methane in the compartment. He had no further details on the sequence of events.

Confined space casualties are often serial, as crewmates who respond to the scene may not have full information and sometimes enter the space in order to carry out a rescue - without first checking to see if the atmosphere is dangerous. If oxygen levels in the compartment are low, asphyxiation and unconsciousness can follow rapidly. The U.S. Coast Guard is investigating the circumstances of the case, and has not released any details of its findings.

"This is a heartbreaking reminder that confined spaces on vessels can contain extremely dangerous, invisible hazards," Coast Guard Capt. Stanley Fields said in a statement. "The Coast Guard is committed to a thorough investigation to understand what happened and prevent a tragedy like this from occurring again."

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