LNG worker trapped by life jacket

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An inquest has heard how a construction worker at a liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal died when a platform he was working on collapsed into the sea.

Adrianus Van Ham, 44, was working at the South Hook site on the Milford Haven estuary, Pembrokeshire.

The jury heard the trainee barge master, from Holland, became trapped in the control cabin of a platform after his life jacket inflated in 2007.

He drowned as the cabin submerged. The hearing is continuing.

The jury in Haverfordwest was told a huge jetty was being built, so shipments of LNG could be processed.

But at 1500 on 6 October 2007, eight men were thrown into the water after a maintenance platform beside the jetty collapsed.

Escape to safety

At the time of his death Mr Van Ham was working on the floating barge platform, set on four legs.

He was being trained as a barge master, who controls the legs and position of the barge platform.

Mr Van Ham was with barge master Archie Keenan in the platform control room and they were trying to lower the platform down to move it into a new location.

But the inquest heard instead of it being winched down evenly, one of the legs was rising, and this tipped the barge off balance and a crane crashed into the control room.

Mr Keenan managed to escape to safety but Mr Van Ham was trapped when his life jacket inflated.

Over the next few days, the jury is expected to hear evidence regarding the cause of the platform's collapse.