A total of 22 people were killed when a fire completely destroyed an oil platform. It is believed that a multi-purpose support vessel, which was evacuating a worker to a medical center, hit the platform’s riser causing an explosion. The vessel also caught fire and sank, but two nearby platforms were saved when connecting bridges collapsed. The 150 people on board managed to transfer to a nearby water injection platform and a further 348 people were evacuated from the oil platform. However, the rescue operation was hampered by bad weather. A cantilever jack-up rig, linked by a bridge to the process platform, was also involved in the fire. Some 73 people were evacuated from the rig however, one employee died during the evacuation. Meanwhile, six divers in a saturation chamber on the vessel were rescued 36 hours later.

[ Property Damage $370 Million. Estimated Current Value $518 Million ]

Image credit: ONGC