Seven employees of Mexico’s largest construction company, ICA Fluor, died while working on Pemex’s Ayatsil-C platform during an accident that occurred 11 June, ICA Fluor announced 12 June. Another employee sustained serious injuries.
The accident occurred in ICA Fluor-subsidiary Industria del Hierro’s yard, located in the state of Veracruz in the municipality of Pueblo Viejo, when a personnel transporter, hoisted by a 600ton Manitowoc crane, fell from a height of about 40m. Five died upon impact, El Financiero reported. During the fall, the transporter struck another group of workers. Two later succumbed to injuries after being transported to the hospital.
Bloomberg said that the accident occurred while removing scaffolding from the platform.
“The most important thing to our company is the safety of our workers. We are supporting the families of those injured and those who lost their lives as much as possible,” ICA Fluor said, adding that the company “shared the pain” with the famliies of those affected. The cause of the accident was not yet known, but is being investigated.
Pemex awarded ICA Fluor the US$95 million contract for Ayatsil-C in 2012. The 11,832ton, 132m platform will be installed in the Ku-Maloob-Zaap complex, located 105km off Ciudad del Carmen in the Bay of Campeche in the Gulf of Mexico. The two Mexican companies have a preior history of working together: In 2004, ICA Fluor won an engineering, transportation and fabrication contract from Pemex worth $169 million for four drilling platforms, also intended for Ku-Maloob-Zaap.
Ayatsil-C was originally contracted to be completed in 2013.
Photo from Pemex refinery by Sarah Parker Musarra
Subscribe
