Fire On Board Oil Production Platform

Aberdeen Coastguard is co-ordinating assistance to the Thistle Alpha Production Platform, which has an escalating fire, 124 miles north east of Sumburgh, Shetland Islands, Scotland.

The Coastguard was called at 8.10 am this morning to report that assistance was required. There are 159 people on board.

The on board fire team is working to extinguish the fire.

The decision has been made by the oil production company Petrofac to begin down manning of the platform. Aberdeen Coastguard has scrambled the Gullfacs helicopter and the Coastguard helicopter Mike Uniform from Sumburgh.

In a separate event also out in the North Sea a fishing vessel which activated its distress systems after a wave crashed through the bridge window in gale force weather has now managed to change course and begin making way towards the Scottish mainland, escorted by two vessels.

The vessel Anuva is Lithuanian registered and Spanish owned. It was 262 miles from the Butt of Lewis at the time of the incident. Stornoway Coastguard was called by the Norwegian Coastguard at 5.15 am this morning to report that they had received an Inmarsat C distress alert from the vessel. A mayday message was also broadcast by the ship and was intercepted by the UK Coastguard and relayed for the attention of all shipping. Stornoway Coastguard was also able to confirm, via Falmouth Coastguard, that the vessel was still afloat using satellite communications and the Spanish Coastguard.

Two other vessels, Villa Nores and Ivan Nores responded to the mayday relay and went to the aid of the ship. Villa Nores told the Coastguard that there was a significant amount of water on board Anuva, but that the vessel was not in imminent danger of sinking. The crew was therefore not abandoning ship. Anuva has now been pumped dry, the windows have been boarded up and it has altered course to the east and is now proceeding, escorted by the two other vessels.

Martin Collins, Stornoway Coastguard Watch Manager says:

We were very concerned for the safety of the crew at the start of the incident. There was strong gale force weather from the west with a 5 metre swell, and due to their distance from land it would have been very difficult to get rescue resources to them swiftly should the situation have taken a turn for the worst. Fortunately, a number of other ships were fairly close by and two of them were able to assist.

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