A major fire was raging on Wednesday at an offshore oil drilling platform in the Arabian Sea owned by India’s state-run Oil and Natural Gas Corporation, the country’s oil minister said.
”We had a major fire and the platform has been completely destroyed. There is bound to be some loss of life,” Oil Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar told a televised press conference.
He said as many as 200 to 300 people could have been working on the platform.
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.
”At the moment, our focus is on search and rescue for those who can be rescued,” he said.
The platform is 160km west of Mumbai, off the coast of western Maharashtra state.
”It occurred at about 4.30pm [11am GMT],” Aiyar said. ”We have deployed all the support and supply vessels available for rescue operations. I feel the loss of production may be considerable.”
Aiyar said some workers escaped the blaze, but there are no details on the extent of injuries. Rescue efforts included bringing in burn victims, he added and specialised medical teams are being recruited.
He said a helicopter fleet based in Maharashtra has recently been grounded and the government is trying to organise helicopters from the state government, as well as ships and helicopters from the military.
The cause of the fire was not immediately known, he added. ‒ AFP, Sapa-AP