Alaska News

Russian oil rig capsizes, dozens of workers still missing

According to numerous sources Monday morning, a jack-up oil rig owned by a Russian company based in Murmansk capsized and sank in a storm early Sunday. The rig was being towed through the Sea of Okhotsk, from Kamchatka to Sakhalin in the Russian Far East.

Reports say that there were 67 people aboard the rig, that approximately 39 are still unaccounted for, and that 14 people were rescued immediately following the sinking.

Reports of the numbers of dead vary, but there have been fatalities. Early Monday, Bloomberg reported that five people had been confirmed dead, but that 16 bodies had been spotted. But a subsequent report by The Associated Press (via NPR) holds that 10 bodies have been recovered, with four more known but not recovered.

Life rafts have also been spotted in the area, but the status of people aboard them is unknown. Reportedly, at least 14 people aboard were not crew members.

President Dmitry Medvedev ordered a probe into the accident, according to a statement on the Kremlin website.

Craig Medred

Craig Medred is a former writer for the Anchorage Daily News, Alaska Dispatch and Alaska Dispatch News. He left the ADN in 2015.

ADVERTISEMENT