S’porean drowns in barge sinking off Batam

SINGAPORE — A 31-year-old Singaporean man was among three persons who drowned in waters off Batam on Friday night, after the barge they were on sank during a failed submerging trial.

Mr Terence Chew Zhi Wei was one of the nine people who were on board the submersible barge POSH Mogami, which was undergoing submerging trials two nautical miles north-east of Batam city, Sekupang, when its bow tilted “unexpectedly” at about 9.45pm, said PACC Offshore Services Holdings (POSH), whose associate owns the barge.

This resulted in the control room compartment flooding, added the company, which is a major operator of offshore support vessels in Asia.

Besides Mr Chew, two other crew members — Myanmar national Ye Myint Myat, 33, and Chinese national Shen Ming Ming, 27 — also drowned in the incident.

It is unclear if their bodies have been sent back to their home countries, but a Jakarta Post report yesterday morning stated they have been taken to BP Batam Hospital.

The remaining six aboard the Singapore-registered barge, who include two other Singaporeans, a Malaysian, a Dutch, a Filipino and an Indonesian, were rescued by divers engaged by the company and its own divers, said POSH.

The two Singaporeans are Mr Ng Boon Guan, 54, and Mr Ho Kok Ching, 41.

POSH did not say whether the six surviving members, which comprise five employees and a consultant, suffered any injuries.

“The company’s immediate priority is to render all necessary help and support to the personnel affected and their families,” said POSH, which is carrying out investigations on the cause of the incident.

In a statement yesterday, the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore said it has received a report of the incident and is investigating the cause with the relevant authorities.

Submersible barges are designed to carry very heavy equipment, such as floating rigs, various port equipment and entire ships. They are meant to submerge a few metres for certain operations, such as repairs.

The Indonesian Sea and Coast Guard Unit’s (KPLP) base operations head at Tanjung Uban, Mr Faisal, told the Jakarta Post that the trial the barge was undergoing involved a repair job on a ship that was placed atop it. “The water was meant to be pumped out and the vessel would rise again,” Mr Faisal was reported as saying.

Built in 2012, the POSH Mogami barge is designed to be capable of submerging 9.5m above the main deck.