One dead in reefer leak

SOUTH AFRICA: One person died and nine others were injured following a refrigerant leak on a Chinese container ship outside Port Elizabeth harbour.

According to South Africa’s National Sea Rescue Institute (NSRI) a rescue team rendezvoused with the 134m refrigeration vessel Huan Yu 1 en route from Singapore to the Falkland Islands, after a reported refrigeration gas leak.

Rescue crews removed the nine injured and the body of the deceased from the ship which was anchored three miles off-shore of Port Elizabeth. Police boarded the ship to initiate investigations.

The nine injured were medically evaluated and treated by paramedics. They had suffered refrigerant gas inhalation.