Esso to Face Charges in UK over Death on Fuel Tanker

The fuel company Esso and a contractor firm will face criminal charges in Britain related to the 2008 death of a seaman working on a fuel tanker docked at an Esso facility, state prosecutors said on Friday.

Juan Antonio Quintanilla Romero, a 40-year-old Honduran national, was crushed by a large fuel pipe when the crane from which it was suspended gave way because of a severely corroded bolt, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said.

The fuel tanker was berthed at the Fawley oil refinery near Southampton, on the coast of southern England. The refinery is owned by Esso Petroleum Company, a British refining, distribution and marketing unit of U.S. oil giant ExxonMobil .

Esso will be charged with breaches of health and safety regulations, while a contractor, British firm Austin & McLean will be charged with corporate manslaughter as well as health and safety offences.

"Esso is disappointed at the decision of the Crown Prosecution Service to bring the charges against us ... and we intend to contest and defend ourselves against the charges," the company said in a statement.

"We have a detailed understanding of the facts and circumstances pertaining to the incident and do not believe that the health and safety regulatory charges are justified."

A family-owned firm specialising in heavy lifting engineering, Austin & McLean had been hired by Esso at the time of Romero's death to undertake maintenance on the crane that failed. The company denied the charges against it.

"At the time of the incident Austin and McLean Limited was contracted to carry out inspections of lifting equipment at the (Fawley Marine) Terminal," the company said in a statement.

"The last scheduled six-monthly inspection of the crane involved in the accident was undertaken on March 19, 2008."

Romero's death occurred on Aug. 30 of that year.

The CPS said representatives of both companies would appear at Southampton Magistrates' Court on Sept. 5