Indonesian police officials said on Sunday that three dead bodies were recovered from the water near to a small tanker that suffered an explosion at the Barokah Perkasa yard on the Mahakam River in Samarinda, Indonesia, last Thursday.
They are still trying to determine whether the deceased were victims of the blast or an unrelated drowning.
TradeWinds reported on Friday that footage apparently filmed on a phone by a yard worker showed black smoke billowing from a small tanker before a massive explosion rocked the vessel, resulting in a plume of fire shooting skywards.
Initial Indonesian media reports identified the ship as the 2,010-cbm LPG carrier Grace V (built 1989) operated by Bahari Nusantara, but authorities later identified the casualty as a self-propelled oil barge operated by Barokah Gemilang Perkasa that was docked behind the LPG carrier.
A Samarinda Police spokesperson told local media on Sunday that investigations into the cause of the fire and explosion were ongoing.
The two crew members who had been stationed onboard the vessel were subsequently determined to be safe. One had gone ashore to buy cigarettes prior to the fire breaking out, while the second jumped overboard and swam ashore.
A Berokah Perkasa spokeperson said there had been no reports of casualties among his company’s employees, and noted that there had been reports of local residents missing in the waters of the Mahakam River near the shipyard’s location prior to the fire.
Firefighters extinguished the blaze on board the oil barge within two hours.
