Hi Folks,
Heres the story. Most of it is copied from a book type thing i'm writing about the whole thing..
The project was a gas pipeline for clients MEDGAZ between spain and almeria.
8th March 2008:
I left for Almeria in Spain to join the Castoro Sei. We sat in the port for months while we fabricated roughly 3000 ‘Quad Joints’ (4 x 12 metre pipes welded together which were later to be used on the Saipem 7000 J-Lay system).
Eventually the barge left port to start a series of ‘beach pulls’ in which a sections of pipeline 2km in length were laid ready from the land to be tied into what the Saipem 7000 would lay. In total, 2 beach pulls were performed on both Spanish & Algerian sides. We finished this phase of the project at the end of June 2008 and finally it was time to go home and relax.
11th August 2008:
I arrived in the port of Almeria and joined the vessel. We sat in port for a few days while preparations where made to the vessel, as well as various quality control activities which had to be performed for the client. Most of my time was spent learning various procedures and getting to know the people I would be working with. We then left to a location approximately 30km from Almeria and recovered the pipeline.
We then started laying pipe. It was decided I was to be the Coatings Inspector for the duration of the phase and would be on the day shift. This meant that I was stationed towards the base of the tower, however still some 25 metres above sea level. My shift hours were 12pm – 12am.
The actual coating station itself was located internally within the tower. However during the coating process, it was most safe to stand on the walkway which was located outside the coating station due to moving machinery inside. The walkway itself was located under the pipe lifter which lifted the 48 metre, 30 ton pipe to the top of the tower. Problems with the equipment came and went during the weeks leading up until Wednesday 17th September 2008.
September 17th 2008:
I left my cabin for breakfast as usual and everything else seemed a normal day to me. I remember making the long and hot walk the length of the deck to the bow of the vessel where the tower was located. I remember placing my T-card in the allocated place to say I was on the tower and walking onto the tower where I would talk to my back to back inspector for a shift handover. It was around 11.30am when I got onto the tower and began my shift.
Jim the client inspector was already on shift. We spoke for just over an hour as the progress of the pipelay was very slow. I enquired as to what the problem was and was told “they have issues up top” by the Forman Sultan. I thought nothing of this as it was a regular occurrence and downtime wasn’t out of the ordinary. I noticed the weather was quite bad for the Mediterranean with blowing wind and high waves. Jim and I spoke for a while longer before his patience grew thin of the lack of activity. He then left for the coffee shop. I remember then standing up off the bench we were sat on, walking towards the entrance to the actual coating station as I intended to do a routine check of materials and temperatures. I then heard a loud bang and felt I was falling with everything else a blur. I felt two massive ‘slaps’ on my back and then a further massive impact which knocked me unconscious.
On regaining consciousness, having been pounded into the side of the tower, I realised I was being carried away by the big waves. I remember feeling very confused as to what had happened to me but I kept calm, even though the horrific pain and massive blood loss made me feel as though I just wanted to die quickly. I remember the waves lashing over me, I was ingesting water and slowly drowning.
I remember being under the structure of the tower, I looked around to see if there was anyone else. I saw Sultan out of the water and standing on the base of the tower structure, hunched over shouting “rescue boat, rescue boat”. He was hunched because he had broken the top half of his back in the 25 metre fall to the water, no doubt hitting and bouncing off the various walkways on the lower half of the tower in which I had on my decent. I remember being in agony and my rigger boots slowly pulling my under. I managed to kick them off which bought me more time to think about the situation I was in. As I was under the structure of the tower, there was various framework available to hang onto. I tried hanging onto ladders which were part of the lower structure but couldn’t hold on for more than a few seconds due mainly to my deteriorating strength and blood loss, as well as increased pain with the raising and lowering of the swell. In the end I had to let go and again I was in the open sea, alone and fighting for life. I then went through a quiet and peaceful moment where I thought of how to end my life as easily yet painlessly as possible. The options I surmised where to either duck my head and breath in sea water, drown and fall beneath the waves or to literally drink as much sea water as possible as I know if enough sea water is ingested, you would fall into a coma and eventually die. I then had a third option presented to me which was to use the remaining strength I had left and survive for the sake of mainly my parents, girlfriend and friends. Seeing Sultan crying for help made me realise nobody knew we were there. I felt I had to do something and decided I would risk my own life and try and float/swim away from the structure in order for me to be seen. I used all my strength and managed to float out sufficient enough to be seen by crew on the barge. I remember pointing towards Sultan, putting his life before mine. A life ring landed next to me a few moments later. Luckily this landed within arms reach and I managed to get this round me which literally saved my life as I would estimate I could bare no more than another 30 seconds to a minute until I had to surrender my life to the sea.
I remember ‘bobbing’ about for around 5 minutes before I realised there was a rescue boat behind me. I remember the struggle to get me into the boat itself and when the crew finally managed to get me onboard, I just remember feeling so much pain and as though my left leg was twisted round. I couldn’t breathe at this point, most probably due to the amount of sea water I had inhaled and my state of shock. I then remember the long wait until I was finally transferred to the S7000 deck and was then stretchered to the hospital where I was examined by the doctor. I then remember my overalls being cut away from me and then being quickly whisked away through the maze of corridors and to the helicopter waiting in the helideck. I am lucky that the helicopter had just completed a crew change and was immediately available. A health and safety officer called Daryl was with me during my 20 minute flight to a hospital in Almeria. Luckily he is an ex-army medic and I entirely believe my survival was down to him knowing what to do and keeping me awake from the temptation of closing my eyes. I remember feeling so cold, shivering infact. The helicopter finally landed and I remember the door being opened and being lifted onto a stretcher. I felt a blast of sunlight for a few seconds while in transit from the helicopter to the hospital entrance.
I then remember going through various corridors and being put through an CT scanner. I remember being in so much pain yet it felt so surreal. After being removed from the scanner I remember doctors and nurses surrounding me and then they must have sedated me as the next thing I remember is waking up in agony, hooked up to all sorts of machines and drips and being in an unimaginable amount of pain.
I was told in broken English that my parents were on their way. I slept on and off waking every few hours, still wondering what had happened to me. I remember my mouth being dry, and asking for a drink of water in the Spanish I had learnt from being in the country so long. They said no and I remember laying there, not being able to move, crying and wishing I could gather the strength to squeeze one of the drip lines between my fingers in the hope it would kill me. I had constant flashbacks of the event every time I closed my eyes, constant nightmares, and being in a constant state of panic with not being able to move.
My parents finally arrived around 24 hours after the accident. At this point, I still had no idea what had happened to me or what injuries I had sustained. I was more ‘with it’ at this point and my father had told me what had been suspected to have happened and that some of my friends had been killed. I remember bursting into tears and still feeling so confused.
Time passed, my parents had gone as visiting time was over and I’d never felt so alone in my life. The 4 days I was in the intensive care unit felt like weeks. I was so confused as to what time it was, day felt like night and night felt like day. I would sleep for 4 hours and then be awake roughly the same. I had various visitors throughout the 4 days including the new captain of the Castoro Sei, fellow colleagues from the QC team, my supervisor and a representative from Saipem UK Ltd.
Plans were made to get me back to the UK by means of a private medical aircraft supplied by Swissair. The Spanish do things a lot differently to the UK, things in which cause considerable discomfort to say the least and I was glad I was finally on the road to getting back to the UK. Even though the Spanish hospital managed to save my life for which I am eternally grateful, my experience there was a living hell. My parents had managed to acquire a list of my injuries. They were as follows:
• Snapped Left Femur
• Shattered Pelvis
• Cracked Sternum (Breastbone)
• Detached Clavicle From Right Shoulder
• Internal Bleeding
• Deep Wound On My Head
• Severe Nerve Damage Including Sciatic & Femoral Nerves In Left Leg
A traction brace had also been fitted to my left leg which was attached directly into my leg bones.
Heres a pic of the lift which lifts the quad joint up and into the main line to be welded.
And heres whats left of the walkway where me and 5 others (4 were killed) were working. The red circle shows where i was stood when the pipe came down.
Heres some more pics of the damage.
Heres a CT scan of my broken pelvis a week after the accident.
So how am i at the moment - well the situations pretty grim if im honest. Around 2 months ago, i was told i have the start of arthritis in the left hip joint - pretty cr4p for a 24 year old. I'm still walking around on crutches and taking things day by day. I wont be the same again as the nerve damage is too severe. Things with the legal claim are kicking off now and infact, ive just got back from a medical assessment in london..
If you want any more infor just ask!
Dan