SBMI eyes maintenance lapses in Butuan Bay blast

After an inspection onboard the MV Butuan Bay this week, members of the Special Board of Marine Inquiry are now following leads on preventive maintenance lapses that may have caused the explosion in the ship’s engine room. The tragedy left three crewmembers dead including the engineer on duty while wounding at least nine passengers.

SBMI chief engineer Romulo P. Pepito said that board is looking into cracked pistons or loose piston rings, loose compression on cylinders 6 and 7 and leaking fuel from the scavenging box as possible causes of the explosion. Pepito said results of the inspection was anything but conclusive. He said the board will have to get direct testimonies from the crew.

Pepito’s hostile observations refute earlier pronouncements by safety enforcement officer Arnie Santiago of the Maritime Industry Authority. Santiago gave a general and sweeping “defective nozzles, heated cylinders and leaking fuel” to have caused the blast. He had also boarded the ship some 24 hours after the accident.

Santiago recommended the grounding of the Butuan Bay where a cease and desist order was issued on May 16. But two days later, the Marina office here lifted the order.

Three common causes.

The SBMI’s leads support theories on negligence. Often there are three most common causes of engine explosion that includes dirty and clogged scavenging valves causing hot air to thicken and thus explode. There is crankcase explosion that happens when there are hot spots inside the engine. Third is unfinished combustion inside cylinders due to defective fuel injector nozzles. Faulty nozzles cause poor atomization of fuel that triggers exhaust temperature to rise significantly or cause lubricating oil to leak in the cylinders.

This incomplete fuel combustion inside the cylinders may explain Pepito’s observation of fuel flooding or leaking in the scavenging box.

Also in a statement, Engineer Nelson P. Ramirez, president of the United Filipino Seafarers believes that the MV Butuan Bay blast “was due to utter disregard of engine crew in undertaking proper and regular engine maintenance and even breaching safety protocols in preventive maintenance.”  Ramirez is a marine engineer who has served several ocean-going vessels for some 20 years.

The SBMI will have to pin down laxity or negligence with evidence enough to merit prosecution. In particular they will investigate whether National Safety Management manuals and procedures are in place, if the crew conducted thorough inspection of key engine parts prior to departure since each engine part has an optimum operating level for certain number of hours and if logbooks reflect preventive maintenance practices.

MV Butuan Bay I left the Port of Cebu at about 7 o’clock in the evening of May 15 when some 30 minutes while underway, an explosion ripped the engine room killing two of the crew instantly. The third died while going through hospital treatment. At least nine passengers were hurt reportedly from burns. The Carlos A. Gothong Lines, Inc. own and operate the ferry.

Terrorism was at first considered a possibility in the blast but police and bomb experts found no improvised explosive device or residues of explosive device that would insinuate a bomb triggered the explosion. With terrorism ruled out, probers are now looking into safety ship management breaches.

With Pepito in the marine inquiry board are Master Mariner Siegfred G. Lanticse and PCG lawyer Donette Dolina. While the first hearing was scheduled on Monday, the board opted to inspect the ship and its engine rooms. The next SBMI hearing is scheduled this month. — Ruth G. Mercado