Explosion on NAI’A kills one, injures two

by Eric Cheng Tuesday, February 2nd, 2010

Article Summary:

We were just informed that on Sunday evening, there was a tragic explosion aboard the popular Fiji liveaboard dive vessel, NAI’A. A team of ship painters were onboard the vessel during the explosion. One painter died, and two other workers were injured. NAI’A sustained significant damage and will cease operation until the cause of the incident is found and the vessel repaired.

NAI’A will contact customers with upcoming charters as soon as they have more details.

From Rob Barrel, NAI’A Owner I can confirm that there was a tragic explosion aboard the ship on Sunday night. No crew were aboard at the time and the ship was, to use the legal term, “under custody” of the slipway. We have already chartered the M/V Lycianda, a somewhat larger ship belonging to Blue Lagoon Cruises, with which to run the next few charters while we rebuild NAI’A’s staterooms. We will use all of our normal crew, our own skiffs and dive gear, even our own linen and pillows and wineglasses. We will dive the same sites and not much will be different except that the Lycianda has more room. The spirit of NAI’A will carry on even if a different hull carries the load. Surveys have just been completed on NAI’A and, not surprisingly to those who know her stout construction, she is structurally sound and fully functional. But we need to gut the passenger accommodation area and rebuild the eight staterooms. We built NAI’A in Fiji -- we know the best craftsmen and how to get things done well, so we anticipate that we will finish the interior upgrade and have the old girl back in service by April.
Posted by NAI'A Rob on 2010-02-02 19:29:44