Mar 16, 2006
LONDON (AFX) – Scores of workers on an oil platform in the North Sea off Scotland were being air-lifted to safety early this morning after fire broke out, the coastguard said. Some 135 of the 184 workers on the Tern Alpha platform, owned by the Anglo-Dutch energy giant Shell, were being rescued, a spokeswoman for the coastguard said.
“What they are doing is evacuating the non-essential personnel to a nearby installation,” Sophie Hirsh told Agence France-Presse.
“The fire is reported to be in control and no injuries have been reported,” she said.
The coastguard had scrambled four helicopters to the scene in a joint operation with the Royal Air Force after the alarm was raised at about 0045 GMT, the spokeswoman said.
At the same time, a team on board the platform, which is located 425 kilometers north-east of Aberdeen, was trying to tackle the electrical fire by cooling the area around its source.
Hirsh was unable to say what had caused the fire.
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