Fire Hits Rig in North Sea; 1 Dead, 25 Hurt

An explosion and fire turned a North Sea oil rig into an inferno Wednesday night, and rescuers said today that at least one person was killed and 25 of the more than 200 workers aboard were injured, many with severe burns.

Police said in a statement that some workers were not yet accounted for, but they had no precise figure for the number missing.

“The rig is a raging inferno,” said a statement from the Royal Air Force rescue and coordination center in the east Scottish town of Dunfermline.

The oil rig, code-named Piper Alpha, is owned by Los Angeles-based Occidental Petroleum and is located 120 miles off the northeast Scottish coast.

“I think a lot of people have not been accounted for. Some people ended up in the sea, and rescuers are trying to pull people from the water. It is still dark out there, and it is a formidable task,” a police spokesman said.

Occidental Petroleum issued a statement from its offices in the Scottish port city of Aberdeen saying that 232 workers had been aboard the oil rig when the explosion occurred at 9:30 p.m. local time Wednesday.

“Immediate evacuation procedures were implemented. Efforts are being made to contain the fire on board,” the statement said.

An international force of six warships--the NATO alliance’s standing Naval Force Atlantic--was diverted to the scene, rescuers said. It includes vessels from Britain, the United States, Canada, Portugal, the Netherlands and West Germany.