A 34-year-old Romanian national employed by an outside contractor died aboard a cruise ship under construction at the Marghera facilities of Italian shipbuilder Fincantieri on Wednesday, November 4.
The man became unwell while working inside the vessel at around 11:00 local time at the company’s shipyard near Venice. A forensic doctor from Padua later confirmed his death.
The Fiom Metropolitana di Venezia union said he had been welding inside a confined space aboard a vessel approaching delivery.
A yard rescuer reportedly became unwell after going to the worker's assistance, as did another worker. La Nuova Venezia reported that three other Romanian workers fell ill, including a 50-year-old who was taken to hospital in Mestre.
Fincantieri said in a statement that no other injured people had been reported.
Specialist personnel from the regional nuclear, biological, chemical and radiological unit carried out environmental measurements and sampling inside the work area to determine whether gases or other chemical compounds were present.
Oxygen deficiency is being considered as a possible explanation.
The test results have not been released, and the cause of the worker’s death remains under investigation.
Work in the affected area was stopped, and the area was placed under judicial seizure.
Fincantieri said production at Marghera was suspended for the entire day as a mark of mourning and that it was cooperating with local authorities.
"Working in confined spaces requires a whole series of rigorous precautions, both those required by legislation and those governed by Fincantieri's company provisions," the union said.
The death followed a welding accident at Fincantieri's Ancona yard in late September in which two subcontractor employees died.
