Day of mourning in Murmansk
December 20 has been officially declared day of mourning after the tragedy in the Sea of Okhotsk where the “Kolskaya” oil rig overturned and sank during towing. Anger is rising and people are comparing the situation with the “Kursk” tragedy in 2000.
Governor Dmitry Dmitriyenko only one day after the disaster announced that December 20 will be a day of mourning in Murmansk. Relatives think it was too early to announce mourning and give up search operations. – We are still hoping, and they want to take it away from us, the wife to one of the missing sailors says to Komsomolskaya Pravda.
Relatives blame owner for accident
Anger is rising with the leadership of the owner of the jack-up rig “Kolskaya” Arktikmorneftegazrzvedka (AMNGR). People believe that the company deliberately kept the whole crew aboard the rig during towing to save money on transportation. According to Russian rules for safety on sea, only a required minimum of personnel should be onboard a rig that is being towed.
In a report on TV-21 mourning relatives of the missing crew gathering outside the main office of AMNGR tells how the captain and rest of the officers were forced to conduct the towing operation by the company leadership although they had warned about the risks.
- It’s like “Kursk” again
- This reminds me of the situation with “Kursk”, a Murmansk journalist writes in his blog. The leadership in AMNGR keeps saying that everything was in order with the rig and that the bad weather was the only reason for the accident, he writes.
53 persons are declared dead or still missing after the accident. 14 people survived and were picked up of the freezing water, some as late as four hours after the accident. 32 of the crew members come from the Murmansk region. It is not clear how many of these are among the missing or dead.
The Russian Seamen’s Union (RPSM) demands an independent investigation of the accident, claiming that AMNGR’s wish to save money on transport of the rig’s crew led to an unreasonable high number of casualties, B-port writes. AMNGR has admitted that the whole crew was aboard “Kolskaya”, but says that it was because so many people could be needed in case of a situation with icing-up during the crossing.
According to the official investigators there were three possible causes for the capsize of the oil rig: violation of safe navigation regulations, the rig’s technical condition and the weather, RIA Novosti reports.
Meanwhile, search operations are still going in the area where ”Kolskaya” sank.
Read also: Number of dead rising after oil rig tragedy
