Fire Breaks Out on DEME’s Newbuild ‘Living Stone’

DEME Group’s multipurpose vessel ‘Living Stone’ caught fire during construction in a shipyard in Santurtzi, Spain, local media reports.

According to reports, four working personnel and a security guard had to be treated for smoke inhalation. Reportedly, there was no need for them to be taken to the hospital and they were treated on site.

The fire on Living Stone started on Thursday, February 15, at around 4:55 PM local time, and was soon put out by a team of local firefighters.

As earlier reported, Tideway, a subsidiary of Belgian dredging, environmental and marine engineering group DEME, signed a vessel construction contract with the Spanish La Naval shipyard in January 2015. The vessel was scheduled for delivery in the second quarter of 2017. However, La Naval went bust last year and failed to complete the vessel on time.

After, what was described as a failed attempt to hijack the vessel in September 2017, DEME managed to transfer the vessel from the La Naval’s construction site in Bilbao to Santurtzi.

The 161 meters long ‘Living Stone’ will be able to accommodate up to 100 people and should be aimed at transport and installation projects as well as offshore power cable and umbilical installation, interconnectors for the future European super grid.

The vessel has been designed to carry two turntables below deck, each having a 5,000 tons cable capacity, with a third carousel above deck with an additional load capacity of 2,000 tons and a 600 tons subsea crane.

Subsea World News Staff