Fifteen men were saved in an emergency rescue mission yesterday morning, when a supply vessel crashed into Apache’s Forties Echo facility. The accident, which took place in the North Sea, did not take any victims, nor there were any injuries.
Photo: Apache Corporation
Still there is no explanation of the collision between the Sea Falcon, which was offloading cargo, and the platform.
Aberdeen's Coastguard spokesman stated that the platform staff were evacuated promptly from the platform as a precautionary measurement and it happened very fast because there was a helicopter near by the area at 8:30 am. As for the supplying vessel, it returned to port under its own power.
A special team was sent to assess the damages of the platform and investigate the possible reasons which caused the unexpected accident.
Though the facility is shutdown and there is no leak of hydrocarbons, crisis situation like this one alert the attention of environment campaign groups like the WWF. They used the opportunity to focus on the risks North Sea is exposed to by companies which obtain oil and gas there. In his statements director Lang Banks also emphasized on the importance of health and safety policies for the protection of platform employees' life.