A supervisor with Petrobras lost his life on Wednesday after a platform collapsed while he was overseeing construction of the P-79 floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel at Hanwha Ocean’s yard on Geoje Island, South Korea.

The deceased, a man in his 30s, was conducting a load test on a winch designed to lift heavy objects installed at the rear of the FPSO. The winch, unable to withstand the weight, buckled and caused him to fall into the water.

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Brazilian national whose name is given as Rodrigo Reis Barreto fell more than 10 metres from the platform into the sea; and was only rescued around 90 minutes later when he was already unconscious and in cardiac arrest.

Despite CPR being administered en route, the Petrobras official was pronounced dead at the hospital.

Another two workers also conducting load testing and structural checks were injured but managed to cling on to the collapsed platform and were subsequently rescued.

The shipbuilder announced last night that “around 11:56 AM on the 3rd, a 30-something male supervisor from the shipowner’s side fell into the sea from the upper structure of a marine plant ship at a Hanwha Ocean site in Geoje-si, Gyeongnam.”

The accident occurred while the deceased worker was overseeing the construction of a vessel.

According to the Changwon Coast Guard and other sources, “a report was received at around 11:56 a.m. that day that a man in his 30s, identified as Mr. A, a Brazilian national and supervisor representing the shipowner, had fallen from a structure of a 150,000-ton-class vessel at the Hanwha Ocean shipyard in Geoje, South Gyeongsang Province.”

The Brazilian was already in cardiac arrest when Coast Guard reportedly rescued him from the sea at approximately 1:30 p.m. and transported him to a hospital where he later died.

It was reported that at the time of the accident, the victim was conducting a load test on a winch designed to lift heavy objects installed at the rear of the vessel.

“The structure, unable to withstand the weight, bent, causing him to fall approximately 10 meters into the sea,” the builder stated in an incident report posted online.

“Hanwha Ocean immediately halted all related work following the accident, implemented safety measures, and stated it is investigating the cause in cooperation with relevant authorities.

“The Changwon Coast Guard is also conducting a detailed investigation into the exact circumstances of the incident,” the company stated. Petrobras has instigated its own investigation into the cause of the tragedy.

Oracle Intelligence reports that Hanwha Ocean currently operates the ship building yard after acquiring Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME) in 2023.

Hanwha Ocean is constructing the P-79 FPSO for Petrobras, with integration of the topsides modules shipped from Chinese contractor Offshore Oil Engineering Company (COOEC) commencing earlier this year.

The floater is destined for the prolific Buzios field offshore Brazil.