Oil and Gas People has learned that at least 32 People are dead in what has been hailed one of the worst offshore disasters since Piper Alpha.

The incident in the Caspian Sea yesterday happened on Platform 10 on the Guneshli field offshore Azerbaijan. It is believed severe weather ruptured a gas line causing an explosion and huge fire that engulfed the platform.

Rescue was hindered due to 8m waves and strong winds. Just a few hours after the incident and as Oil and Gas People were getting reports of people trapped in lifeboats blown against the platform, a spokesman for the State Oil Company (SOCAR) went on record saying that everyone had been safely evacuated. The region is notorious for controlling the media and very little information has been released by SOCAR who have declined to take our calls.

An Independent committee has now issued a statement saying that they believe at least 32 people have died whilst 42 workers were rescued. Mirvari Gakhramanly, head of Azerbaijan’s Oil Workers Rights Protection Committee also confirmed the platform fire has finally been extinguished.

Several eye witnesses have contacted Oil and Gas People with horrific accounts of bodies floating in the water as rescue vessels struggled to get close to the burning platform.

SOCAR have issued three emergency response numbers but Oil and Gas People has been unable to get an answer on two of the numbers with the third repeatedly hanging up when we call.

The numbers are: +994 12 5211019, +994 50 2293521 ,+994 50 2457005