The World - News from July 11, 1988

Firefighters trying to cap leaking wells at the world’s worst oil rig disaster went aboard the North Sea platform Piper Alpha for a second time, braving strong winds, heavy seas and surging flames. A spokesman for the owner, Occidental Petroleum Corp., said veteran oil fire trouble-shooter Paul (Red) Adair and two assistants boarded the platform but later left because of the flames and rough weather. Meanwhile, at a memorial service in Aberdeen, Scotland, Roman Catholic Bishop Mario Conti read a message of sympathy from Pope John Paul II, who expressed “deep sorrow” over the deaths of 166 workers killed in the explosion and fire at the rig, 120 miles northeast of Aberdeen, on Wednesday.