Caspian Sea oil rig fire kills 1; 30 missing

The 30 people missing are presumed to have died, said an official for the company known as Socar, who asked not to be identified because of policy.

Firefighters are still trying to bring the blaze under control, he said. 30 workers are still missing. A criminal case was also opened to investigate the Azerbaijan oil rig fire.

Socar is owned by the state of Azerbaijan, the largest oil producer in the former Soviet Union after Russian Federation and Kazakhstan.

Earlier this year, SOCAR president Rovnah Abdullayev announced plans to construct four new oil rigs over five years, costing around $4 billion.

Another 32 people were rescued, the company said on its website on Saturday, listing the names of all 62 workers caught up in the disaster.

A severe storm is said to be complicating the rescue effort.

Azeri media said about 60 workers had been on the platform at the time. The worker did not want to be named.

But it is not yet known whether the statement was accurate, or still up-to-date.

A major fire has broken out on an offshore oil platform in Azerbaijan’s waters.

Most of Azerbaijan’s oil is produced elsewhere, including fields operated by BP, a British oil company.

The fire started overnight at a rig at the Gunashli field southeast of Neft Daşları (Oil Rocks) settlement.

The company said Friday that all workers had been moved away from the area that was on fire, with all or majority taking shelter in two lifeboats attached to the platform. As of this publishing, the SOCAR oil workers were still missing.