Myanmar sailors to go home after fatal accident

May 6, 2010, 2:21 GMT

Wellington - Ten Burmese sailors will be repatriated after two crewmen died on a Korean carrier loading logs in New Zealand, following a negotiated agreement, the Maritime Union of New Zealand said Thursday.

A Korean officer and a Burmese rating died Monday, reportedly asphyxiated by fumes in a hold of the TPC Wellington, as it was being loaded at Marsden Point in Northland, though investigations are continuing.

Maritime Union General Secretary Joe Fleetwood said the Burmese crew members would return with the vessel to Korea, where the company would pay them off with a bonus and pay for their repatriation to Myanmar.

The agreement was negotiated with the help of the International Transport Workers Federation, whose inspector Grahame McLaren was quoted in Thursday's New Zealand Herald as saying, 'They are adamant they want to get off the ship. Morale is rock bottom. They just feel unsafe, unhappy and depressed.'

The New Zealand union gave permission for the boat to sail Thursday, saying the agreement allowed the crew to refuse to carry out work they felt was unsafe.

New Zealand police named the men who died as Korean Deogchil Oh, 56, the ship's first mate, and able rating Thi Ha Aung, 33, from Myanmar.

News reports said Aung died after trying to rescue Oh, who appeared to have breached safety protocols by entering a confined space without breathing apparatus. A third man who went to their aid was released after hospital treatment.