Sembcorp Marine and ABS Acknowledge at Least 22 Deaths in Chinese Tug Sinking

Sembcorp Marine and ABS Acknowledge Deaths in Chinese Tug Sinking

By Rob Almeida On January 20, 2015

Rescue workers carry a body on a tug boat that sank in the Yangtze River, near Jingjiang, Jiangsu province January 17, 2015. A search and rescue operation was still underway after the boat capsized on January 15, leaving 22 people missing, including foreigners. 

REUTERS/Aly Song

In a follow-up statement today on last week’s deadly tugboat sinking in the Yangtze River, Sembcorp Marine Ltd confirmed three of their employees were among those who died in the incident. Sembcorp Marine says they were witnessing the sea trial of the tug boat when the accident happened as part of the project monitoring.

The employees, Assistant Manager Baginda Ali Bin Zainul Abidin, aged 53 years, Chief Engineer Aif Rifadi, aged 41 years and Operations Executive Bernard Chung Wai Kian, aged 27 years, were deployed to witness the sea trial. Mr. Baginda Ali and Mr. Chung are Singaporeans, while Mr Rifadi is Indonesian.

Separately, a source at the American Bureau of Shipping tells gCaptain that one of the company’s surveyors died as result of the sinking. He leaves behind a wife and a nine year-old daughter.

In total, 22 people were killed in the incident and Chinese maritime authorities are investigating.