NEW DELHI, 28 July 2005 — A large fire broke out at an oil platform in India’s biggest oil field yesterday, killing at least three people and leaving 45 missing, the petroleum minister and news reports said. “We had a major fire and the platform has been completely destroyed,” Petroleum Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar told reporters. A supply vessel and a rig in the area were also destroyed, Aiyar said.
The Press Trust of India news agency later quoted Aiyar as saying that three people had died and 45 were missing.
There were 385 people on the platform, located 160 kilometers off Bombay, when the fire broke out. Navy and coast guard ships evacuated 331 of them, PTI quoted officials of the state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation as saying.
Eight navy and coast guard ships carried out the rescue work, said Capt. Abhay Lambhate, a navy spokesman.
Aiyar said reports suggest that some people left the platform on lifeboats and some others were able to cross a bridge connected to another rig in the region.
Aiyar said the cause of fire on the oil platform has not yet been ascertained. Unconfirmed media reports said the fire started after a rig collided with the oil platform. Helicopters were trying to evacuate people.
Aiyar said it would take several months for production to return to normal, though other platforms in the field continued to function normally. “We are trying to make arrangements to try to bring in those with burns, fractures and other injuries and medical teams are being deployed,” the minister said.
“Our first priority is to save lives and second, to control environmental pollution,” said Aiyar.
