By George Psyllides
CYPRUS and British Bases helicopters yesterday joined an international rescue operation to pluck 84 workers from an American oil rig sinking in rough seas off the coast of Israel, but within the Nicosia Flight Information Region (FIR) around 240 kilometres southeast of Cyprus.
The crew members – mainly Egyptians, but also Americans, Britons, Italians, Danes and Australians – were evacuated to safety by a helicopter flying off Italian frigate Aleseo .
The operation was completed at around 1.30pm.
The Italian helicopter flew at least 42 sorties – lifting two people at each attempt — in weather conditions described “appalling” by one of the pilots, a Sovereign Base Area (SBA) statement said.
They were transferred to the on-scene command centre, the frigate USS Ross , which was later due to head for the northern Israeli port of Haifa.
The6,347-tonne rig Key Singaporewas reported to be breaking up but was still afloat yesterday afternoon, Lloyds Casualty Reporting service said.
The USS Rosswas still alongside the platform but was unable to put a line on her because of the heavy swell and 45-knot winds.
Apart from the two frigates, a second US vessel, as well as two British Wessex helicopters dispatched from SBA Akrotiri and a Cyprus police Bell helicopter, assisted in the difficult operation.
Defence Ministry Spokesman Andreas Yiorkas said a distress signal from the rig had been received early yesterday morning but several ships in the area found it impossible to approach the platform because of the rough weather.
An SBA statement said conditions in the area were extremely hazardous with 27-foot waves, low cloud, rain, and high winds.
Three helicopters were dispatched from Cyprus, Yiorkas said, but because of the long distance they had to refuel in Israel.
The rig transmitted a distress call after towlines securing it to tugboats snapped in heavy seas. It was being transferred between drilling sites off Port Said in Egypt when the cables broke, said Arieh Rona, head of the Israeli Shipping and Ports Administration.
The rig, owned by Global Santa Fe, drifted north until it was about 50km from the Israeli coast.
During the night the rig had started listing and began breaking up, a spokesman at the US embassy in Israel said. Israeli military helicopters, which were first on the scene, were unable to land at first due to high winds.
Global Santa Fe International Corporation is the world’s second-largest offshore oil and natural gas driller.
