J.S. DE ELCANO

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Crew member died in capsize accident

Floris Heeren, a 23-year-old Belgian crew member of the "Juan Sebastian de Elcano", was killed in the Philippines while carrying out maintenance on the "Juan Sebastian de Elcano" on Nov 3, 2014. The ship was anchored about one nautical mile off the port of Manila since the end of October. The man had been working with another crew in a small boat which capsized in strong currents. A few minutes after the last radio contact with the bridge another crew noticed that the boat was floating bottom up. One of the two men could save himself and was taken to hospital with injuries at the arm. Floris Heeren was missing. Divers were unable to find him. On Nov 4 the body of the victim surfaced. An investigation into the exact cause of the accident was launched by the Jan De Nul Group which is operating the dredger.