Workers missing as Russian oil rig sinks

Rescuers saved 14 of the 67 people who were on board a floating oil rig which capsized in the Sea of Okhotsk in Russia’s Far East, according to reports. Nine more dead bodies have been found in the freezing waters off Russia's Far East coast, where the Kolskaya oil rig capsized.

This brought the death toll to 16, with 37 still missing, more than 24 hours after the tragedy happened on Sunday 18 December.

The Kolskaya rig was being towed by an icebreaker and a tow boat to Sakhalin Island after finishing its drill mission when the disaster happened.

The rescuers have found three lifeboats – all of them empty. The chances of survival of those who were missing were close to zero because these lifeboats were their only chance for survival in the freezing waters. The temperature on Sakhalin Island at tyhe time was -20 C.

“It means that the crew was not able to get down in the lifeboats. The boats were washed away with the flow of the water,” said the rescue operation co-ordinator, Veniamin Ivanychev.

One lifeboat remained unaccounted for by search and rescue teams and it could have potentially been found with survivors on board. “A rescue Antonov An-74 aircraft continues a reconnaissance mission in the area of the disaster. Rescue helicopters patrolling the area have all the necessary equipment to pick up any survivors. Three ships continue to operate in the area where the oil rig sank,” Aleksandr Ivelsky, an Emergency Ministry spokesman.

The four rescued people were transported to land via helicopter for further treatment. All of them suffered exposure to cold, but have no other injuries, medics said. Rescuers had problems with lifting the dead bodies from the water and had to leave them floating in the sea until the storm, which sank the rig, calmed down a little. It is feared that none of the missing people will be found alive now.

All workers on the rig were equipped with warm, dry suits and life vests, rescuers say. “All those rescued were wearing diving suits. Every single one of the rig's crew was wearing a diving suit. They should have kept them afloat in these icy waters,” said Emergencies Ministry specialist, Sergey Petrovsky.

The rig itself had completely sunk.

Authorities said it had little fuel left and those supplies were in sealed tanks, so the environmental damage to the region will be minimal, if any.

The incident happened 200 kilometers off Sakhalin Island. Conditions at sea had been very severe, with waves up to six meters high and winds of 70 kilometers per hour in the area. A storm caused the rig to tip over. It damaged two of its air tanks, which gave buoyancy to the platform. This tilted it and it capsized in a roughly 20 minutes. This happened as helicopters were preparing to evacuate 53 crew members and 14 passengers from it, because staying aboard was deemed too risky in such conditions.

The Kolskaya rig was built in 1985. At 70 meters long and 80 wide, it was one of the largest oil rigs in Russia. It was due to set sail for drilling off the Vietnamese coast at the end of this mission.