There were no indications of any problems before the explosion on board a cargo ship that was docked at the Guyana National Ship-ping Company (GNSC) Wharf on Wednesday afternoon, according to engineer Shane Walker.
“The ship had no problems, nor gave us no warning… it just happened,” Walker, 32, said from his hospital bed at the Georgetown Public Hospital, where he is nursing a fractured hand.
Two others were also injured in the explosion but they have since been discharged from the hospital.
Walker, 32, who was surrounded by his friends when he spoke to Stabroek News, said he was unaware of what really happened.
What he could recall was standing by the door to the engine room talking to some men. His next memory was of being in the hospital.
One of his friends, who is a crewmember and had been aboard the ship at the time of the explosion, said he heard a loud sound and he picked up Walker and rushed him along with the two other injured men to the hospital. The crewmember, who did not want to be named, said that the two engine men, whose names were given as ‘Blaze’ and ‘Chatter P,’ were discharged from the hospital. He said one of the men was pitched overboard by the impact of the explosion.
The crewmember said that all four of them were in the same engine room together when the explosion occurred.
When asked if the men knew what caused the explosion, they insisted that it could not have been the engine, which they said would have resulted in their deaths. The men said they are also still trying to figure out what really caused the explosion.
According to the men, the ship had 30 other crew members who were aboard at the time of incident. The ship, which is still docked at GNSC, is still functional and is an international ship that usually transports cement to Suriname, Trinidad, St Vincent and other countries, the men added.
The explosion would have to be investigated as an Occu-pational Safety and Health matter.
