Veronika Farkas. 12 February 2015.  Five crew members were killed and four were still missing after an explosion on floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) unit Cidade de São Mateus on 11 February, BW Offshore confirmed.

Online news sources reported that the cause of the explosion and consequent fire was a gas leak, but BW Offshore did not confirm this to IHS Maritime. The cause of explosion is unclear yet, "we have been extremely busy with the all the personnel and their relatives being taken care of so the investigation has not really started yet," a spokesperson from BW Offshore told IHS Maritime. The investigation will start as soon as possible, he added.

There were 74 persons onboard the Cidade de São Mateus. The other 65 crew members are accounted for and receiving medical care as needed, with two having sustained severe injuries. For safety reasons they have all been taken off the unit, said BW Offshore in its latest statement. Search and rescue operations continued into the night after the incident.

The FPSO is on a long-term charter to Petrobras by BW Offshore and located on the Camarupim and Camarupim Norte fields on Espirito Santo littoral, approximately 120 km from the coast. Production has ceased following the immediate shutdown of the unit and BW Offshore could not give any estimate of when this will likely to resume.

IHS Maritime casualty data record seven other similar incidents on FPSOs globally since 2005.

Source: www.ihsmaritime360.com