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ST. JOHN'S, N.L. - The captain of a Newfoundland oil tanker has been fined $27,000 after he pleaded guilty to violating labour code rules prior to a flash fire aboard an oil tanker that killed a deckhand and badly burned a contract welder.

Court heard Capt. Gough Everett Wellon was in charge of the M.T. Kometik on April 8, 2006, while it was undergoing routine maintenance in Conception Bay.

Deckhand Wayne Dalton was in the cargo hold with Pat Stamp, a welder with East Coast Marine, when the fire broke out.

Dalton was killed and Stamp was left badly scarred by the explosion.

Wellon pleaded guilty to two of 18 charges under the Canada Labour Code.

Court heard he failed to ensure electrical equipment had been disconnected and that he failed to ensure that Stamp's welding did not endanger the others aboard.

Crown prosecutor Brenda Boyd agreed to drop the other charges in exchange for the guilty pleas.

Judge Colin Flynn fined Wellon $13,750 for each of the two charges.

The ship, owned by CanShip-Ugland, is used to service the Hibernia offshore platform.

At one point Thursday, Dalton's wife Colleen read an victim impact statement to the court.

"Wayne Dalton was a man who lived life to the fullest and had a smile on his face all the time," she said, he voice trailing off as she was overcome with emotion.

Colleen Dalton has been through this before. In April, both she and Stamp read statements at the sentencing of chief officer Keith Riggs.

But this time, it was harder. "A part of me died that day in April," said the 42-year-old woman, who is left to raise the couple's three-year-old son alone.