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A worn flexible fuel hose caused a fire aboard the Australian supply ship Aurora Australis en route to the Antarctic, according to a report released today.
The report by the Marine Incident Investigation Unit of the Department of Transport and Regional Services is critical of the management system that permitted flexible hoses to be fitted to the ship and of the failure to monitor the condition of the hoses.
Seventy nine scientists, crew and other personnel en route for Australian bases in the Antarctic were temporarily stranded when the fire broke out in the engine room of the Aurora Australis on 22 July 1998.
Nobody was hurt as a result of the fire and no pollution resulted. However, expeditioners and crew had to endure some hours mustered on deck in freezing conditions while the situation was brought under control.
The fire was fought effectively by the ship's crew, although the engine room smothering system failed to function correctly, discharging only a portion of the gas.
The fire destroyed the main electrical cabling to the key machinery and services.
The report said the ship's operator P&O Polar had replaced some rigid fuel pipes in parts of the fuel system after the ship had experienced considerable engine vibration.
Flexible fuel lines had a finite life and their use on ship's engines was subject to conditions imposed under the International Safety of Life at Sea Convention, Classification Society rules and engine builders' specifications.
Although P&O fitted flexible hoses, there was no record of any agreement to fit them on the part of the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA), the Classification Society or the engine builder. No modification was made to the ship's plans to show that they were fitted.
"The flexible hose that failed was fitted below walkway plates and seems to have been simply forgotten about. The hose failed as it had reached the limit of its operating life, in other words old age," the report said.
The report paid tribute to the work and ingenuity of the ship's crew, particularly the engineers, in rigging alternative cabling and restoring electrical and motive power, which allowed the ship to return to Hobart under its own power.
Copies of the report can be obtained from:
Marine Incident Investigation Unit
GPO Box 594
Canberra ACT 2601
Telephone: (02) 6274 6088
Reports may be downloaded from: www.atsb.gov.au/marine/index.aspx
Further information:
Director, Public Affairs: (02) 6274 7522
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