Fire victim succumbs to his injuries
WALVIS BAY - A man was burnt to death over the weekend after he was trapped in a burning fishing vessel since Saturday morning at the jetty of Seaworks Fishing Factory in Walvis Bay.
The man, identified as Hausiku Mathews Sivambo, was part of a 20-man crew working inside the Ocean Tide vessel that belongs to Seaworks when the fire broke out on the vessel on Saturday morning at around 07h00.
Members of the Namibian Police Force could only remove Sivambo’s body yesterday morning after fire fighters, rescue officials and the police brought the fire under control.
Sadly, it was too late for the deceased whose family had to witness police remove his lifeless body from the vessel that was still smouldering yesterday morning.
According to onlookers, the vessel was moored at the jetty of the Seawork Fish Processors in Walvis Bay, while work was carried out below the
deck of the vessel with a grinder that caused sparks.
This resulted in some of the flammable material on the vessel catching fire. Nineteen men made it to safety but Sivambo was trapped.
The deceased, according to an official, could not be reached because of excessive smoke despite fire firefighters battling since Saturday morning to bring the fire under control. When New Era arrived at the scene yesterday morning, again a tugboat from Namport as well as fire fighters were still at the scene trying to contain some parts of the vessel that were still burning preventing them from reaching the trapped man.
An official of Seaworks at the scene told New Era that they cannot comment at this stage and will only be able to call a press conference regarding the accident today.
Crime coordinator for the Erongo region, Deputy Commissioner Erastus Iikuyu yesterday said they at this stage suspect an electrical short circuit might have caused the fire, however, an investigation is still ongoing to ascertain the exact cause of the deadly blaze.