HSEQ THE BHN DISASTER THE BHN DISASTER 355

HSEQ: THE BHN DISASTER

THE BHN DISASTER § 355 employees rescued, 13 missing; the worst accident in the history of ONGC § Death toll up to 12 in Bombay High fire § In terms of property loss, this has been the most serious accident in ONGC history. § A person on board an MSV had broken his finger and needed medical attention. § Attempting to transfer this galley crewman on the ship (MSV) to the platform in order to receive medical attention (which was available on the platform), the ship approached the platform , lost control and drifted and collided with the platform. All available information indicates that this collision resulted in serious oil leakage and fire, which spread rapidly § These multipurpose support vessels are highly sophisticated computerised ships, equipped to deal with all sorts of emergencies. They have dynamic positioning systems and it is difficult to say what went wrong, here.

§ There were 227 people on the Bombay High platform, while there were 84 people on board Samudra Suraksha(MSV) and 73 people on Noble Charlie Yester, a privately-owned drilling rig, which also had to be abandoned. The platform was lost in less than two hours, while Samudra Suraksha though afloat is still on fire and will be out of service. There were about 384 people in all these places and 355 have been rescued. § Of the 12 persons who died, six are ONGC personnel (five officers and one worker); one person is from SCI (which contracts the ships to ONGC), and one from the rig Charlie Yester.

§ Some photos taken from Transocean's jackup drilling rig "Randolph Yost" that was jacked up very close to the Bombay High North (BHN) platform and the Noble "Charlie Yester" jackup. § Both the BHN and the "Charlie Yester" were completely destroyed and melted into the water. § The dive support / multi use vessel "Sagar Surakshas" that is on fire is the vessel that started the whole chain of diasterous events by making contact in heavy seas with the BHN production and processing platform § Believe it or not, there were 6 divers in the decompression chamber onboard the dive support vessel at the time the vessel was totally abandoned - miraculously they lived and were rescued the day after these photos were taken.

§ 355 employees rescued, 13 missing; the worst accident in the history of ONGC § Death toll up to 12 in Bombay High fire § In terms of property loss, this has been the most serious accident in ONGC history.

RELIEF AFTER RESCUE: An ONGC employee being hugged by a relative after arrival in Mumbai on Thursday.

All this is the result of someone injuring their finger, which set off this chain of events