Dozens of workers missing after Caspian Sea oil rig fire

One person confirmed dead and 32 rescued as Azerbaijan rescue teams struggle against violent weather

A still image from a video footage shows an oil platform on fire in the Caspian Sea, where 30 workers are missing. Photograph: Reuters Tv/Reuters

Agence France-Presse in Baku-Saturday 5 December 2015

Thirty oil workers are missing after the rig they were working on in the Caspian Sea was engulfed by fire, Azerbaijan’s state energy firm Socar has said.

Another 32 people were rescued, the company said on its website on Saturday, listing the names of all 62 workers caught up in the disaster.

The office of Ilham Aliyev, the Azerbaijan president, said earlier that one person had died in the blaze that broke out on Friday, with the rescue operation to retrieve the other staff hampered by a violent storm.

The storm damaged a gas line on the platform in the deep water Guneshli section of the Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli offshore oilfield, causing the fire, Socar said.

“Despite bad weather conditions, 32 people could be saved,” Aliyev said. “According to preliminary information, one person died. At this time, rescue operations continue.”

Azerbaijan’s state prosecutor’s office said the person had died on Friday night when the lifeboat he was in with three others was hit by heavy winds. Staff had taken refuge in lifeboats that had been lowered to 10m (35ft) above the water, prosecutors added.

The oil rig’s stricken gas line had been damaged on Friday by winds of up to 144km/h (90 mph), the prosecution service said.

Situated between Russia and Iran, Azerbaijan is a key partner in projects to deliver Caspian Sea energy reserves to the west through pipelines to Turkey, bypassing Russia.