Posted on: Wednesday, April 3, 2002
Suffocation likely in ship's two fire deaths
| • | Crew adrift for 20 days, rescued by cruise liner |
By William Cole
Advertiser Military Writer
Two civilian crew members who died Sunday on a cargo ship under the U.S. Navy's control may have suffocated when a fire was put out in the engine room, officials said.
"The possibility is that it may have been as a result of a fire suppression system — sometimes they use" carbon dioxide, said Susan Clark, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Maritime Administration.
The suppression systems replace oxygen with carbon dioxide to smother a fire.
Clark said the cause of death still is being investigated, but is assumed to be asphyxiation after the two crew members entered the engine room area where the fire occurred.
"Apparently, they died after the fire was extinguished," Clark said. "We know they weren't burned to death."
The 750-foot Ready Reserve Force ship Cape Horn, under the control of the Navy's Military Sealift Command, was taking cargo from Washington state to Thailand for war games and was en route to Pearl Harbor when the fire broke out about 800 miles east of Honolulu, command officials said.
The dead crew members were identified as Chief Mate Timothy L. Bohan of Jensen Beach, Fla., and 1st Assistant Engineer Philip Hellesto of Hayward, Calif.
The tug Hokukea was dispatched from Honolulu to tow the Cape Horn to Pearl Harbor. The ship, which was dead in the water following the fire, is expected to arrive about April 10.
The fire was confined to the engine room and was extinguished about two hours after the initial alarm sounded, officials said. Coast Guard officials said a distress call was received at 5:30 a.m. and a Matson freighter responded before the sealift command ship USNS Shasta arrived to provide assistance.
Clark said the extent of the damage was undetermined.
The California-based Cape Horn's crew consists of 28 merchant mariners and six Army cargo supervisors.
