Barge captain gets six-month jail for fatal explosion in Chicago canal 10 years ago

Chicago: Ten years after the event an Illinois man was sentenced to six months jail time for negligent manslaughter and negligently discharging oil into a waterway in the case of a fatal explosion on a petroleum barge in a Chicago canal.

Dennis Egan, 36, of Topeka, had been captain of the barge at the time of the tragic events in 2005 when it exploded on the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal, claiming the life of crewman Alex Oliva.

The barge, which was carrying 600,000 gallons of clarified slurry oil from an ExxonMobil refinery, ignited when Oliva used an open flame torch to work on the loaded vessel. Egan and the company knew of and approved of that clear safety violation, the court found.

Apart from killing Oliva, the explosion also discharged large quantities of oil into the waterway.

Barge owners Egan Marine Corp were found guilty on the same charges as captain Egan.

Egan will have to spend a year of supervised release after completing his prison sentence.