Footage captures moment huge oil rig sinks into the ocean with 115 on board
Footage capturing the moment an oil rig with a reported 115 people on board sank into the sea off the coast of Gabon, resulting in at least one fatality, has emerged.
According to Reuters, four people remain missing following the incident, which occurred on Saturday, October 24.
A video is now doing the rounds online, showing the Prospector 5 platform disappearing into the darkness of the Atlantic Ocean. Bystanders were able to capture footage of the drilling rig – allegedly 231ft long and 250ft wide – as it submerged.
The company who own and operate Prospector 5, Borr Drilling Limited, shared their latest update on Monday, October 26, revealing that search and rescue operations are still ongoing.
They confirmed that 115 people went down with the rig, claiming that 110 employees are ‘safe and accounted for’ and have been brought ashore, where ‘care and support is being provided’.
While one death has been confirmed so far, four others are missing. Borr confirmed that a rescue operation is still underway.
“Extensive marine and air search and rescue operations remain ongoing,” the company said in its statement.
“The company is working with its partners and authorities to ensure a robust investigation is carried out into the cause of the incident; however, the immediate and overriding priority remains the ongoing search and rescue efforts and doing everything possible to assist the authorities and specialists leading these operations to locate the missing individuals and support those safely accounted for.”
According to Borr, the Prospector 5 crew were conducting jacking operations ‘in preparation for a planned drilling campaign’ when an incident occurred at 8.37pm local time on Saturday night.
Initial findings suggest that ‘the rig experienced a punch-through event during preload activities, resulting in loss of stability and the subsequent sinking of the rig’.
