Just before 22:00 on the 6th of July 1988 the Piper Alpha platform was rocked by a huge explosion caused by the ignition of gas from a blanked but unsecured pipe.
167 men died that night, some on the platform and some in the freezing waters of the North Sea. Two men died on a fast rescue craft picking up survivors in the water which was caught in the second explosion on the platform.
61 men survived, some by scrambling down to the lowest levels of the platform and jumping in and some by jumping off the heli-deck situated 60 metres up on the platform and into the sea below, a fall which by all rights should kill you.
Although this disaster occurred well before I was born I can feel the effects of it on the industry today with the permit to work system and health and safety being at the forefront of everybodies mind.
Researching this for my course. Tragic. Thanks for your heartfelt post, it really was a terrible event.
(Source: 4on4off)
