No less than one employee was killed & 30 others have been missing on Saturday after an Azeri oil platform caught fire, state energy company SOCAR stated.
Advertisement
There have been a number of fatal incidents on offshore oil rigs in recent years.
As hopes of finding survivors faded, SOCAR said a severe storm was hampering rescue efforts at its platform in the Guneshli oil field.
It is believed that the storm damaged a natural gas pipeline and the resulting oil rig fire caused the platform to partially collapse.
There were reports dozens of workers were still stranded on the platform. The fire took place on the platform No 10 in Azerbaijan’s Gunashli oil field.
“Some 15 vessels, including 2 diving and 13 rescue vessels were involved”, Etibar Mirzoyev, the Azerbaijani Deputy Minister of Emergency Situations, said.
Some 32 people have been rescued and one person has died in the accident. It’s unclear if any workers remain on board, and SOCAR did not respond to a VICE News inquiry seeking clarification.
Azerbaijan, which borders Russian Federation and Iran, has become a major regional player in oil and gas, helping to deliver energy to the West via Turkey and bypassing Russian Federation.
Azerbaijan’s media quoting various sources said Saturday that over 60 people had been working on the platform when the storm hit.
Advertisement
Fourteen workers were killed in accidents on SOCAR’s oil and gas rigs on 2014.
