Customs inspector, 2 crew members die in ship's cargo hold

October 30, 2001 Posted: 11:07 AM EST (1607 GMT)

WASHINGTON (CNN) --

A U.S. customs inspector and two crew members of a Panamanian vessel died Tuesday in Louisiana after they entered the vessel's cargo hold at the port of Gramercy on the Mississippi River.

"We haven't determined whether it was a lack of oxygen, or fumes, or some other cause," U.S. Customs Service spokesman Dean Boyd told CNN.

A second customs inspector was hospitalized.

Boyd said the customs inspector, the captain of the Sakura I and a crew member entered the hold after the ship arrived at about 3 a.m. CST Tuesday from Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.

The ship was carrying scrap metal.

-- PHO (owennos@bigfoot.com), October 30, 2001

Answers

This is a tragedy. A cargo hold should bedefined as an "enclosed space". Different industries have different requirements for entering such as testing the air forenough oxygen, wearing respirators, carrying oxygen, or at least maintaining radio contact with someone outside.

-- John Littmann (johntl@mtn.org), October 30, 2001.