Offshore Support Vessel Capsizes

[Alan Smillie]

Sky News reports of an offshore oil support vessel capsizing in the North Sea north of the Shetland islands with 8 of the 14 crew being rescued so far, no details yet of the vessel involved

This news just reported so details are limited.

[Scott Boulter]

BBC news 24 have reported it as being the Bourbon Dolphin, 8 rescued and 6 still missing.

[Guest]

Sydney took a photograph of this vessel in Lerwick on 10th April 2007 - see:
http://www.shipspotting.com/modules/myalbum/photo.php?lid=390488

Regards

Steve Ellwood

[Guest]

Latest @ 18.45 GTMT is:

Rescue Drama In North Sea
Updated: 18:45, Thursday April 12, 2007

A major rescue operation is under way after an oil rig support vessel capsized 100 miles off the coast of Shetland with 14 people on board.

Eight have been recovered - but six are still missing, according to reports.

A coastguard helicopter and a North Sea rescue helicopter have been sent to the area, along with a Nimrod reconnaissance vessel.

RAF spokesman Michael Mulford said: "The latest... is there were 14 on board this vessel which has capsized.

"Eight have been recovered already. We have diverted a  Nimrod from the Irish Sea to render assistance."

He added: "It does appear to be unfolding as a major incident".

Mr Mulford said he believed a coastguard helicopter from Shetland and a North Sea rescue helicopter were en route to the scene.

Regards

Steve Ellwood

[Michael Martin]

Very tragic affair. This vessel was just recently built by Ulstein in 2006. Ulstein has information for her pertinent details.

[Jarrod David]

Good Day,

This is very tragic news.I was a big fan of this vessel.Something very wrong there for sure.She is just recently delivered!I hope the best for the missing crew members we hope they will be found ok.This is aweful!!!.Please keep us informed.Thanks for posting this info.

Take Care
Jarrod David

[Alan Smillie]

Latest on Sky News at 20.00hrs was that the vessels upturned hull was still alongside the rig or platform and that rescue services were picking up divers from Faslane and taking them to the scene to try and rescue the remaining 5 sailors who they say might still be alive within the vessels hull, they reported that there had been 15 on board the vessel and that 10 people had been rescued so far.

Regards, Alan.

[Stuart Young]

Latest news is that a Diving Support ship is on the way to the scene and helicopters are transporting divers to the scene and are to be sent down to the ship to search for the missing 6 persons.

This is very tragic news I'm in total shock with butterflies in my stomach.

Our hopes that the men are found alive.

Best regards

Stuart  :-(

[Jens Heri]

Very Sad
The weather was god at time of the accident.
According to Bourbon offshore the ship was making a turning manoevre as the accident happended.

[Mats]

Very, very sad. Let us all hope and pray that the whole crew can be saved.

[Michael Martin]

I've been at sea in the North Atlantic, in my case near St. John's, Newfoundland and you have to be extremely careful in those type of heavy swells, even in seemingly benign weather. In our case, we had a young person being educated at the wheel. He didn't respond quickly enough to the Officer of the Watch and we heeled over precipitously to port, such that we lost sea suction at the STBD main engine sea chest. I had to do a bit of scrambling to regain the suction as we were beginning to approach the harbour entrance and it's tougher to manoeuvre on just one screw. My little bit of inexperience came in not realizing we lost sea suction until the freshwater expansion tank boiled over from overheating. I had to shutdown the engine and get it all started up again before we could proceed into the narrows.

These type of supply vessels tend to be quite top heavy and they can roll about quite a bit. If there was an inexperienced hand on the wheel, it doesn't take long to get into trouble.

[Chris Hunsicker]

Hunt for crew after vessel capsizes
12/04/2007 20:52

A major rescue operation is under way after an oil rig support vessel capsized 100 miles off the coast of Shetland with 14 people on board.

Ten crew members from the vessel, Bourbon Dolphin, have been recovered from the water by helicopter, but four are still missing, a spokesman for the Maritime and Coastguard Agency has confirmed.

A Mayday signal has been sent out to other vessels in the area calling for those with diving equipment and diving support crews to get to the scene.

The Subsea Viking, a support vessel designed for diving operations, is en route to the scene, but it is thought divers may need to be flown from the mainland to assist with the rescue.

It is not clear whether the missing crew members had been wearing survival suits or life jackets at the time of the incident.

Mark Clark of the Maritime and Coastguard Agency told Channel Four News the agency was mobilising divers to reach the missing people feared trapped inside the hull in water temperatures as low as 5C. He said: "We cannot see them therefore we can only assume they are under the hull," he said.

A coastguard spokeswoman said the boat was a Norwegian anchor platform tug which capsized close to the Transocean Rather oil platform.

The incident happened about 75 nautical miles west of North Shetland.

It is understood that the boat is an anchor handling vessel which capsized as it turned away from the rig. The drilling rig is operated by Transocean, the largest offshore drilling company in the world, for Chevron.

Conditions in the North Sea are said to be good, clear and calm.

[Calum Fraser]

Very tragic to hear about the days events. The latest news we have heard is that the vessel was involved in lifting or lowering anchors for the semi submersible oil rig that is at the location. BBC news seemed to reckon that the vessel is still tethered to the oil rig. However each news report i hear seems to have a differnt story so i guess only time will tell.

I hope all goes well and they find the missing men safe and well.

Regards

Calum Fraser

[Guest]

Latest from Sky News @
http://news.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,30000-1260388,00.html

"Rescue Drama In North Sea
Updated: 21:53, Thursday April 12, 2007

A major rescue operation is under way after an oil rig support vessel capsized 75 miles off the coast of Shetland with 15 people on board.

Ten have been recovered from the icy waters - five crewman are still missing, according to the latest reports.

It is thought they may be trapped inside the hull of the upturned boat, the Norwegian anchor tug Bourbon Dolphin.

The vessel - which is less than a year old - capsized at 5.20pm as it was handling an anchor from the Transocean Rather oil platform.

Eight of the 15 people on board were rescued soon after and another two were later winched to safety by a helicopter.

A spokesman for the tug's owners, Bourbon Offshore, said: "The vessel had a problem and capsized. The crew are fully Norwegian.

"People have been rescued but there are still some people missing and there is a rescue operation under way."

RAF spokesman Michael Mulford told Sky News six divers were being flown to the rig from RAF Kinloss in Scotland.

Mark Clark of the Maritime and Coastguard Agency said it was imperative divers get to the area as quickly as possible.

He said: "We have got the Subsea Viking, a support vessel designed for diving operations, en route to the scene and we are trying to muster divers.

"The Viking has an ROV (remotely-operated vehicle) on it so we can get under the hull but obviously it is getting dark now and that is going to hamper our operation.

"We cannot see anyone therefore we can only assume they are under the hull.

"If people are under the hull then we don`t know how much air they have or whether they have managed to struggle into their survival suits.

"The water is around five degrees at the moment," he added.

A coastguard helicopter and a North Sea Rescue helicopter were scrambled to the scene and an RAF Nimrod is providing overhead cover.

Three vessels, Olympic Hercules, Viking Victory and Highland Valour are also assisting with the search

Conditions in the North Sea tonight were said to be good - clear and calm."

Lets hope tomorrow brings better news.

Regards

Steve Ellwood

[Tomas]

According to several norwegian web-newspapers, two men are found dead. Very sad...
Tomas
vg
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