Earlier, on December 4, a fire broke out on an offshore platform of SOCAR’s Gunashli field, after a strong storm damaged an underwater high-pressure gas pipeline.
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Two firefighting boats and a diving vessel were thought to have been involved in the rescue attempt, which was initially hampered by a heavy storm. “The fire on the platform was finally extinguished”, said Gakhramanly.
Reports later emerged on Friday that a second platform had been hit and was on fire, with numerous workers unable escape due to the high seas.
DAKAR, Senegal – A triple suicide bombing at a market on an island in Lake Chad on Saturday killed at least 27 people and injured 90 others, said security officials. “We regard those whom we have not found so far as missing”, Khoshbakht Usifzade, SOCAR first vice-president, told a news conference.
The Guneshli 10 platform, which went into operation in 1984, services 24 oil wells and four gas wells, producing 920 tons of oil and 1 million cubic meters (35 million cubic feet) of gas per day. A criminal case was also opened to investigate the incident.
The deadliest incident in recent decades occurred in the North Sea in 1988, when the Piper Alpha oil platform operated by the US-based Occidental Petroleum exploded, killing 167 people.
Azeri state energy company SOCAR was not immediately available to comment.
The confirmed death toll after a fire swept through an offshore oil platform in Azerbaijan has increased to seven.
BP operates the main oil fields in Azerbaijan and the bulk of total oil production in the country comes from these fields.
SOCAR reported the missing workers were in a lifeboat that fell into the ocean.
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An oil worker died and 30 were missing in Azerbaijan after an offshore platform caught fire, the State Oil Co. of Azerbaijan said in a statement.
