Azerbaijan: 29 still missing from burning oil platform

Thirty-two oil workers died in a fire on an offshore platform in the Caspian Sea on Saturday.

The country’s president says one worker was killed, 32 were rescued and an operation is underway to find those still missing in the fire that began Friday.

Strong winds and waves up to 33 feet high made rescue operations extremely hard, the statement said.

More than 30 people are thought to have died after an oil rig burst into flames.

As hopes of finding survivors faded, SOCAR said a severe storm was hampering rescue efforts at its platform in the Guneshli oil field.

He said the fire was not completely extinguished yet but hoped it would be by the end of the day.

“Right now 29 people have been rescued”, Socar said in a statement, but did not say how many people were still on the rig.

The fire was likely started by an underwater gas pipeline rupture due to the stormy seas.

In the Order, the Prosecutor General’s Office and the ministries of Internal Affairs, Emergency Situations and National Security are charged with launching immediate investigation into the cause of the incident. It was unclear if any of the missing workers would be found alive.

SOCAR reported the missing workers were in a lifeboat that fell into the ocean.

The bulk of Azerbaijan’s oil is produced elsewhere, however, including on fields operated by British oil giant BP. All in all, 14 workers were killed in accidents on SOCAR’s oil and gas platforms in 2014.