Hopes fading for Azerbaijan oil rig fire survivors
Azerbaijan Republic officials say they are still looking for the 29 oil workers missing since Friday after a storm caused a fire on an offshore Azeri oil rig in the Caspian Sea.
"The fire still continues and the search operation is under way," Balamirza Agaragimov, the chief engineer with the Azeri state energy company SOCAR told a news conference, adding that the rescue teams were using helicopters and vessels of the emergencies ministry.
The body of only one worker has so far been found.
Rescue workers have so far saved 33 people in total from the rig, open water - some at a considerable distance from the rig - and a lifeboat that was suspended from the rig 10 meters (35 feet) above the stormy waters. The rig’s second lifeboat has not been recovered yet.
Meanwhile, industry experts believe the chances of finding more survivors are slim.
"It's not possible to remain alive in such a weather and cold water. If someone survives it would happen only thanks to a miracle," Mirvari Gakhramanly, the head of a local non-governmental organization that defends the rights of oil workers said.
The government of Azerbaijan Republic has asked other Caspian states - namely Kazakhstan, Iran, Russia, and Turkmenistan - to help with the search efforts.
The storm on Friday damaged a gas line on platform number 10 in the deepwater Guneshli section of the Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli offshore oil field, causing a fire, SOCAR said.
Prosecutors have opened a probe into possible "breaches of fire safety regulations."
The Guneshli deposits were discovered in 1981 in the south Caspian Sea, some 90 kilometers (55 miles) east of the Azeri capital Baku.
Last year, fourteen SOCAR workers were killed in similar incidents.
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