Search still on: 14 dead in Kolskaya sinking
Fourteen people are now confirmed dead after a Russian jack-up rig sank in a fierce storm off the far eastern Sakhalin island.
The search continues for 39 others still missing after the Kolskaya capsized and later sank while under tow in the Sea of Okhotsk on Sunday.
All fourteen of the total of 67 crew members on board the ArktikMorNefteGazRazvedka-owned unit who were rescued are still alive, with four brought to a hospital in Nobliki on Kamchatka peninsula, an informed source told Upstream. The remaining 10 are onboard vessels involved in the search and are set to arrive on Sakhalin on Tuesday.
The known death toll has, however, risen from four to 14 with eight of the dead on board vessels involved in the search effort and six others spotted lifeless in the water.
Rescuers searching for the remaning 39 crew claim to have spotted 15 people inside a vessel which was on board the rig before it sank. However, they are unable to tell if these people are alive or dead.
The majority of the 67 crew on board the Kolskaya were Russian – 32 of whom were from Murmansk – with some Bulgarians also believed to be on board.
Salvage of the unit, which was under tow from Kamchatka to Sakhalin, is understood not to be an option as it sank in water depths of over 1000 metres.
ArktikMorNefteGazRazvedka has not yet said what caused the rig to capsize and sink, but early reports claim portholes became iced over in freezing sea conditions which meant the unit may have suffered a water ingress in heavy seas.
In April Gazprom’s offshore affiliate, Gazflot, contracted the rig to drill an appraisal well this summer on the West Kamchatka block. Gazflot was not, however, the operator of the rig when it sank.
Gazprom, which received a licence for the West Kamchatka block in 2009, has said earlier that it was planning to drill two appraisal wells on the acreage this year. In total, four wells were to be drilled on four perspective structures under the licence terms.
However, drilling of the appraisal well on the West Kamchatka block had been halted in September after Russian environmentalists discovered it had not been given approval.
Source: upstreamonline.com