Cal Dive Diving Support Vessel Hit by Fire Off Louisiana Coast

MV Uncle John. Photo courtesy Cal Dive

A semi-submersible saturation diving support vessel belonging to Cal Dive International found itself adrift in the waters off the Louisiana coast on Sunday night following a fire in its engine room.

In a statement to gCaptain, the U.S. Coast Guard confirmed that the MV Uncle John suffered a fire in its #2 engine room, causing the vessel drift approximately 20 miles off the coast of Venice, Louisiana and 14 miles from an “obstruction”. The engine room was sealed off and the HALON fire suppression system extinguished the fire.

The Uncle John was brought under control with the help of four offshore supply vessels that were on scene, the Coast Guard statement said. Once the emergency generator became operational, Uncle John’s crane was used to offload all non-essential personnel to a nearby OSV, the statement said. Of the 84 people onboard, 37 U.S. personnel were successfully transferred to two of the OSVs and transported to Port Fourchon, according to the Coast Guard. The two remaining OSVs maintained positive control and assisted the Uncle John’s transit to Venice, Louisiana to load a generator for deballasting purposes. The Uncle John was expected to be towed into Mobile, Alabama, the Coast Guard said.

There are no reports of pollution or injuries.

The MV Uncle John is a self-propelled DP Saturation Diving Support Vessel registered in Nassau, Bahamas.

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