Three expatriate workers, including a Bangladesh national, went missing after a mobile platform installed for maintenance services sank in Al-Safaniya offshore oilfield area, the world’s largest offshore oilfield, in Saudi Arabia on Friday. “We’re in touch with the officials concerned. They’re yet to provide us any updates. We’ll let you know if there’s any update,” Consul General of Bangladesh Mission in Jeddah M Nazmul Islam told UNB over phone on Saturday.
Two other missing are Indians, reports Arab News, quoting a statement of Saudi Aramco, officially the Saudi Arabian Oil Co which is a Saudi Arabian national oil and natural gas company based in Dhahran.
Al-Safaniya offshore oilfield is located 265 kilometres north of the company headquarters in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia.
The remaining 24 workers were rescued and taken to safety. Saudi Aramco’s response team has beefed up search operations for the missing.
According to preliminary reports, some workers were injured and had to receive medical attention.
The company’s work has not been affected by the accident, the statement said. The company also announced that it would conduct a probe into the cause of the accident.
Khalid Alarqubi, spokesman of the Coast Guard, told Arab News that they received a report from Saudi Aramco that its platform sank about 30 km off Al-Khafji with 27 people on board.
“The Coast Guard rescued 24 people, but three people are still missing. We are working with Saudi Aramco boats to search for the missing workers,” Alarqubi said.
Discovered in 1951, the field has a production capability of more than 1.2 million barrels per day.
-With UNB input
