66 Flee to Safety as Fire Sweeps North Sea Oil Rig; One Missing

Sixty-six of the 67 workers aboard a North Sea oil rig fled to safety after the structure caught fire Thursday, less than three months after a similar accident in the area claimed the lives of 167 men, authorities said.

One man was missing and feared dead.

Most of the workers aboard the Ocean Odyssey drilling rig took to lifeboats or jumped into the sea after the blaze broke out at lunchtime, news reports said.

Thursday’s accident occurred 80 miles south of where a July 6 explosion and fire aboard the Piper Alpha platform killed 167 workers.

The Ocean Odyssey, operated by the British arm of the American oil company Arco, was doing routine exploration drilling, 138 miles east of Aberdeen, when the fire broke out, Arco spokesman Denny Tower said.

‘Blowout’ Indicated

Drilling experts said the fire appeared to be caused by a “blowout,” a sudden rush of gas or oil up the well, which then ignites.

Tower said a blowout could not be ruled out but that Arco did not know what caused the fire.

When the alarm was raised at midday by the rig’s support ships, a swarm of helicopters and ships rushed to the rescue. The British aircraft carrier Illustrious was 100 miles away and sent four Sea King helicopters, the navy said, and other North Atlantic Treaty Organization vessels returning from an exercise were in the vicinity.

“We had supply and work boats standing by and the men ready for evacuation at the time the incident happened, so a very orderly evacuation took place,” Tower said. “They were evacuated into lifeboats and then into support vessels. The helicopters are collecting them now.”

He said the Ocean Odyssey, a semi-submersible rig, is owned by Odeco, a New Orleans-based company.

The coast guard said at sundown that the rig “is on fire and shows all the classic indications of a blowout. The derrick is alight, but the rig itself appears stable.”

The government ordered a review of safety in the North Sea after the Piper Alpha disaster and called Thursday for an inquiry into the causes of the latest fire.