Remaining Victims Recovered from Cidade de São Mateus FPSO Off Brazil

The Cidade de São Mateus FPSO pictured on February 12, 2015, one day after the explosion. Photo courtesy BW Offshore

BW Offshore has confirmed that the remaining three missing crew have been recovered from its Cidade de São Mateus FPSO, bringing the total official number of fatalities from last month’s explosion incident off Brazil to nine.

Two other crew members remain in the hospital in stable condition, the company said.

“The rescue efforts of the past several days have now ended and all our men are accounted for. There is finally closure for the families of those we have lost. There will be continued efforts to provide the necessary support to the crew and families whose lives have been changed forever by this tragedy”, said Carl Arnet, CEO.

The Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) unit Cidade de São Mateus was hit by an explosion on February 11, 2015 at approximately 12:50 p.m. local time. Of the 74 personnel onboard, there were five fatalities originally reported and four missing. The body of one of the four missing persons was recovered from the unit on February 16.

The unit is operated for Petrobras by BW Offshore on the Camarupim and Camarupim Norte fields in Espirito Santo littoral approximately 120 km from the coast.

Production has been stopped and the unit has been shut down.

“We are grateful for the tireless support we have received from our client Petrobras and partners, as well as the local authorities. Our focus continues on getting to the root cause of the incident. We are also in discussions about reinstating the unit and finding continued employment for our crew”, Arnet added.

The nine total fatalities included 7 Brazilian nationals and one Indian.

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