Worker Killed in Crane Accident Aboard Norwegian MPSV

Norwegian authorities are investigating the death of a worker who was crushed by a crane on an offshore MPSV last week.

On the morning of March 12, police at the small port of Hareid, More og Romsdal received a report that a man had been killed aboard the MPSV conversion Island Ocean (ex name Island Condor). According to an interim report by the Norwegian Maritime Administration, the worker was repairing a platform under one of the vessel's cranes, and he was crushed against the railing when the crane started up.

An investigation by the Norwegian Labour Inspection Authority is under way, and the agency has not yet released its findings.

"Until [the investigation] is concluded, I think we should not go into details about the course of events," Island Offshore CEO Tommy Walaunet told NRK.

The Seamen's Church helped provide support for the rest of the crew after the casualty, he said. The firm is cooperating with police and national investigators, and it has changed its safety policies about working with the crane on deck to ensure that no one is in the path of the machine.

Island Ocean is a 2014-built OSV flagged in Norway and operated by Island Offshore. In 2024, it was chartered by DeepOcean and converted into an MPSV, with a 150-tonne crane and two work class ROVs rated to 3,000 meters water depth. It was lengthened by 11 meters and received a large battery pack for hybrid power operations. Post-conversion, the vessel is designed to support inspection, maintenance and repair (IMR) work and light subsea construction for offshore oil and gas and renewables.