Jail for man who was tanker captain when he told crew to lie about details of colleague’s death

SINGAPORE – The captain of a chemical tanker named GT Win told his crew to lie to the authorities about the true circumstances that led to

the death of their Vietnamese colleague

.

Nguyen Duc Nghi committed the offence after Mr Hoang Van Chau, 40, fell unconscious in a tank – earlier used to transport naphtha gas – and died from exposure to volatile hydrocarbons.

Naphtha is commonly used as a solvent and sometimes as fuel for camp stoves. Exposure to naphtha can cause headaches, dizziness, nausea and vomiting.

On Feb 10, Nghi, 50, was sentenced to 14 months’ jail after he pleaded guilty to one count of performing an act that could obstruct the course of justice.

He was the second man linked to the case to be dealt with in court.

In July 2025, Le Thanh Dung, then 36, who was a pump master on board the Vietnam-registered GT Win at the time of the offence,

was sentenced to three months and two weeks’ jail

. He had pleaded guilty to one count of performing a rash act that endangered lives.

The case involving a third man, Dao Tien Manh, 32, who was then a chief officer on board the vessel, is pending. Nghi, Dung and Manh are also Vietnamese.

In earlier proceedings, Deputy Public Prosecutor Joseph Gwee told the court that GT Win had sailed from Thailand to Singapore with multiple tanks of naphtha gas as cargo. It arrived here shortly before 11pm on May 11, 2024, and was berthed at Sudong Anchorage.

At around 5pm the next day, the unloading of cargo from the vessel was completed at Advario Singapore’s terminal on Jurong Island. After that, the vessel anchored at the Raffles Reserved Anchorage. 

At around 2pm on May 14, 2024, Manh told the victim and three other crew members to clean some tanks that were not declared gas-free.

DPP Gwee said: “(Manh’s) role was to check for the oxygen level in the tanks before cleaning and perform the requisite safety checks before the tanks were cleaned by the crew.

“If the tank was not declared gas-free, the crew members should not have entered the tank.”

Court documents stated that Manh instructed Dung to make modifications to a self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA) mask for the crew’s use. This involved attaching a mask’s connector to a hose linked to the valve of an air bottle on the deck.

The hose was secured with a clamp to prevent air leakage.

The DPP said the modification was made as it was “impractical” for the men to don heavy SCBA while entering the tank owing to space constraints at a staircase.

It was not stated in court documents how an unmodified SCBA mask was supposed to function, or what the standard operating procedures were.

Between 2pm and 4pm that day, Dung modified two masks despite knowing they were unsafe for Mr Chau and the other three crew members to use when performing their task.

While in the tank, Mr Chau fell unconscious and was rescued.

Dung then showed Nghi the modified mask that Mr Chau had worn. DPP Gwee said Nghi threw the mask into the sea and told the crew members to lie to the authorities.

The prosecutor added: “The idea was to misdirect the authorities that the deceased had entered a gas-free tank, so that the deceased’s family could receive an insurance payout.

“Although this may have amounted to fraud on the insurance company, the crew obeyed their captain by providing false information to both the Singapore Police Force and Maritime Port Authority of Singapore, resulting in the omission of investigations into the tank the deceased had entered.”

The crew members performed cardiopulmonary resuscitation on Mr Chau, and Nghi contacted his company to request emergency medical assistance.

Mr Chau was eventually taken to Marina South Pier, where he was pronounced dead at around 10.40pm. 

The crew members later came clean about what really happened, and the police confronted Nghi on May 23, 2024. He then admitted he had instructed his crew to lie to the authorities.

As a result, the police finally collected gas samples from the affected tank nine days after the tragedy.

Nghi was arrested on May 15, 2024.