BAKU: Azerbaijan on Monday recovered the bodies of six more oil workers as hopes faded of finding more survivors following a storm which caused their offshore oil rig to catch fire in the Caspian Sea.

The discovery raised the confirmed death toll to seven while another 23 workers were still missing, feared dead after the fire which broke out on Friday.

Azeri state energy company, SOCAR, pressed on with the search operation, using helicopters and other vessels supplied by the emergencies ministry.

“The bodies of six oil workers were found Monday 65-70 kilometers (40 miles) from the oil platform,” a ministry statement said.

Although officials refused to declare the missing workers dead, industry experts said there was little hope of finding any survivors.