Bourbon Dolphin Capsized In The North Sea - Update: Oil Rig Evacuated

BBC: Five missing after vessel capsize


A total of five people are missing, feared trapped inside a capsized oil rig support vessel in the North Sea.

Earlier Mr Mulford told BBC Scotland: "What we know is that a rig support vessel, while moving away from the rig, has capsized.

Mark Clark, of the Maritime and Coastguard Agency, said: "At the moment we've got a mayday signal out, with an emergency signal out with all shipping in the area.

"Anybody with diving support crews, dive equipment can get on the scene for us as quickly as possible.

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North Sea Rig Evacuated After Support Vessel Capsizes (Update1)


A Transocean Inc. oil rig in the North Sea is being evacuated today after a support vessel attached to the structure capsized with the loss of at least three crew members, the U.K.'s Maritime and Coastguard Agency said.

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``The ship has overturned, but it is still connected to the rig in some way,'' Michael Mulford, a spokesman for the Royal Air Force base at Kinloss, in Scotland, told the BBC in an interview. ``I suspect it may be an anchor chain which connects the two.''

An assessment has been made that ``a half sunken ship'' may pose ``a risk to the actual structure of the rig itself,'' Mulford told the BBC.

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BBC: Hopes fading for missing crewmen


The spokeswoman for the coastguard said the search and rescue operation would be changed to a search and recovery operation on Friday morning.

"We are not really expecting to find survivors now," she said.

"It would be a miracle if they had survived all night in five degrees, freezing water. It's very sad."

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Scotsman.com: Eight feared dead in North Sea tragedy


Fears that a 15-year-old boy was among those on board were prompted after initial confusion about whether there were 14 or 15 people on the tug when it overturned. Reports from Norway, where the boat was based, suggested one of the crew may have taken his teenage son on the voyage with him.

Last night a spokesman for Transocean said all 99 crew members on board the Transocean Rather rig had been accounted for.

The Coastguard confirmed that all those on board the Transocean Rather were air lifted off late last night, because the Bourbon Dolphin - which had been handling one of the semisubmersible drilling rig's anchors at the time the accident occurred - was still attached to the rig.

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It remained unclear why the state of the art vessel capsized. It was reported to be turning away from the Transocean Rather drilling rig, 75 miles north west Shetland, when the incident occurred 5:20 pm. Last night the chief executive of the Norwegian firm that owned the boat said such an accident "should have been impossible".

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26-Apr-07

Geir Syvertsen, 32, the first mate of the Norwegian ship, said the vessel was working with the British vessel Highland Valour in a routine operation to move an oilrig's anchor and chain weighing an estimated 330 tonnes.

Mr Syvertsen said the boats had nearly collided while struggling with the anchor in strong winds.

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Mr Syvertsen said there may have been a misunderstanding between the two vessels, leading the Highland Valour to pull the chain the wrong way, which increased the pull on the port side of the Bourbon Dolphin.

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NORWAY'S justice minister yesterday appointed a five-strong commission to investigate the causes of the Bourbon Dolphin tragedy.

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