JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Ten JFRD firemen injured in an explosion while fighting a fire aboard the Hoegh Xiamen cargo ship at Blount Island on June 4th, are now suing the ship’s owners and operators.
Today, their attorney, Curry Pajcic, announced the lawsuit in a news briefing at his downtown Jacksonville office.
The lawsuit, filed Tuesday, Sept. 1, names Hoegh Autoliners Shipping, Hoegh Autoliners Management, Hoegh Autoliners, Inc., Horizon Terminal Services, LLC, Grimaldi Deepsea SPA, and SSA Marine, Inc., as defendants.
Pajcic says the suit claims negligence and seeks to cover the costs of manhours and medical bills, for his clients, and the City of Jacksonville.
“The city has spent millions of dollars in manhours and medical bills, and will spend many more,” he said. “We had three of the firefighters were admitted to the Shands’ burn unit. Two of them were admitted to Shands downtown, and all ten continue to treat today. Three of them remain unable to work.”
With two of his clients standing nearby, Pajcic displayed pictures from the scene, and of his clients’ injuries. He shared an account of the explosion from his client, Shawn O’Shell, a 17-year firefighter.
“He would tell you, ‘I heard a God-awful growl. I then felt the ship shaking, and then the explosion. It was like a blast furnace, being trapped behind the engine of an F-16 blasting into you. The extreme heat that keeps going, and going, and going, and you have nowhere to go. I was trapped, I thought I was going to die on this ship. My thoughts flashed to wife, daughter, and son.’”
He tells Action News Jax the fire alarm system inside the ship had been turned off.
“There is no logical reason why you would disable the fire system,” he said. “And the ship owners, in Grimaldi, spirited the crew away within days of this fire happening. So, we were never able to depose them or interview them. In fact, they’re probably across the seven seas as we speak.”
Pajcic tells us the crew members and captain of the Hoegh Xiamen did not speak English, and could not communicate where the fire was to first responders.
“In this case, the failure to communicate lead to a delay of over an hour and a half before our firefighters could even attack the fire,” he said.
He says the ship had been loaded with wrecked cars while in Jacksonville and was destined for Africa. He believes many of the cars’ batteries were still connected. During the briefing, he said firefighters could hear horns sounding and see lights flickering as they battled the fire.
Pajcic tells us his office believes the fire started when a connected battery short-circuited inside one of the vehicles which had been loaded onto the ship in Jacksonville the day before the explosion.
“It appears the probability is the fire started in the stern of the eighth deck, which is where the wrecked vehicles had been loaded in Jacksonville on June the 3rd,” he said.
However, he says the cause of the fire may never be clear.
“The evidence was destroyed. Literally metal melted through decks and formed stalagmites on the decks below,” he said.
Pajcic explained why seeking restitution may bring challenges, as some of the defendants named in the lawsuit are based internationally.
“Grimaldi is an Italian company, and two of the Hoegh entities are Norwegian companies, so yes it will be difficult, but something we’re up to,” he said.
He tells us what’s left of the ship is being taken to Europe for scrap, and dozens of cars which were abord the ship are being stored in a Jacksonville warehouse.
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Cox Media Group
