Sunday, December 18, 2011

Oil rig with 67 aboard overturns in Russia's Far East

By msnbc.com staff

Updated at 1 a.m. ET

At least two people were killed and another 14 were rescued after a drilling rig with 67 people aboard overturned and sank?Sunday in the Sea of Okhotsk in the Russian Far East, news agency Ria Novosti reported, citing?a local emergency service.

"As of 4 p.m. local time, 14 people were lifted from the rig; their condition is satisfactory. Also the bodies of two people without any signs of life were found. They will be lifted aboard the Magadan ice breaker," Taimuraz Kasayev, a spokesman for the regional emergencies service, said, according to Ria Novosti.

A distress signal was sent while the platform was being towed by an icebreaker through high seas and strong winds afer finishing its drill mission, Russia Today news channel?said.

The platform was?about 125 miles off Sakhalin Island.

All workers at the rig have warm swimming suits and life vests, the rescue service told Russia Today. There were also four inflatable rafts on the facility.

The Kolskoe rig was built in 1985, Russia Today said. At 230 feet by 262 feet, it is one of the largest oil rigs in Russia. It was due to set sail for drilling off the Vietnamese coast at the end of its current mission, Russia Today said.

The rig was operated by Russian exploration company Arktikmorneftegazrazvedka, Reuters reported.

The accident poses no environmental risks, Ria Novosti reported.

"Fuel stocks at the Kolskoe drilling rig are minimal and are stored in hermetically sealed tanks, and there is no danger of a fuel spill," Taimuraz Kasayev, a spokesman for the regional emergencies service, told the agency.

Source: http://worldnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/12/17/9527450-oil-drilling-rig-with-76-aboard-overturns-in-russias-far-east

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