Brazilian rig workers drown as boat flips

Press, 18 August 1984, Page 10

Brazilian rig workers drown as boat flips

NZPA-AP Rio de Janeiro A lifeboat taking oil workers away from a fire on Brazil’s biggest offshore rig overturned in heavy seas yesterday and at least 40 workers drowned, said the State oil company Petrobras. Later, Petrobras announced that the fire, which it said was sparked by an explosion caused by a gas leak, was raging out of control and expected to blaze for days. It said other oil and gas wells in the Enchova Field, 85km offshore and 210 km east of Rio, were sealed off to try to prevent environmental damage and explosions. Late last evening (N.Z. time) Petrobras had not released the names of the dead and injured. A spokes-

man for the United States Embassy in Brasilia, Don Hauger, said the embassy did not believe any American citizens were involved in the fire. Rescue boats patrolled the area off Brazil’s southeast Atlantic coast for bodies and possible survivors, the company’s press office said. Petrobras said in an official communique that there was an explosion from a gas leak that started a fire on the rig. As deck, hands fought the blaze, a second fire broke out and workers began to abandon the rig. During the abandoning operation, one of the lifeboats with capacity for 55 people overturned due to the severe conditions of the sea and high waves, the communique said.

Injured workers, some badly hurt, were taken by boat and helicopter to Casa de Caridade hospital in the coastal town of Macae, a hospital employee said. A hospital secretary, Adriana da Silva, said 13 workers were being treated, two of them in intensive care. The fire was on the main platform at Enchova, is Brazil’s biggest offshore rig. It has a crew of 80 to 100 people and produces up to 58,000 barrels of oil and 1.5 millioncubicmetresofgasper day. Enchova is one of 17 offshore oil fields in the Campos Basin off the Rio de Janeiro coast. The region is dotted with oil rigs and accounts for about 55 per cent of the roughly 510,000 barrels of oil Brazil produces daily.