Final report of investigation of very serious marine casualty – death of a crew member of m/v “Indra II”, on 09.11.2015

On 08.11.2015, the m/v "Indra II" left Odessa, Ukraine, with a course to the port of  Burgas, Bulgaria. The next day, 09.11.2015, the ship approached the area of Burgas port and started maneuvering for mooring to the quay. The main engine of the vessel stopped due to the activation of low oil pressure protection. The ship remained temporarily on a drift. The chief engineer informed the captain that the engine room staff would try to fix the problem in a short time. The routine actions for such cases were undertaken - cleaning the luboil system filters. The oil pump had been stopped before each filter opening. When attempting to dismantle the filter element from the left section of the main luboil filter, the cover of the section remained attached to the body of the filter box, although the retaining nuts were unscrewed. By his own initiative, the 3rd engineer climbed onto the filter housing and attempted to release it by a hammer. The suddenly released cover was ejected vertically, hitting the 3rd engineer in the area of the chest. The 3rd engineer had been given first aid by the crew. Despite all the measures taken, the injured person subsequently died as a result of injuries.