Egypt: Oil Rig Overturns in the Suez Gulf, 4 Still Missing
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The Egyptian Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources announced an incident of an overturn of the offshore drilling rig "Adam Marine 12" owned by Ausco, in the Jebel Zeite area in the Suez Gulf, 40 nautical miles off the coast of Ras Gharib in the northern Red Sea Governorate.
Upon receiving the report, Minister of Petroleum Engineer Tarek El-Molla and Minister of Labor Mohamed Gabr headed to the accident site with teams from both ministries to oversee the rescue operations and field supervision of the measures taken.
The incident resulted in the death of 6 crew members of the rig, while rescue teams managed to save 25 individuals, with 6 injured persons transported for necessary treatment. Search operations are still ongoing for 4 missing individuals believed to be inside the rig or in its surrounding maritime area.
Three naval units immediately moved to the rig's location, supported by helicopters and rescue ships, to carry out urgent rescue operations involving specialized teams and divers from the Gulf of Suez Petroleum Company, with the backing of the Armed Forces who ordered the mobilization of a maritime unit equipped from one of the Red Sea bases.
Red Sea Governor Major General Amr Hanafi confirmed that the number of individuals aboard the rig at the time of the incident was 30, and the Emergency Control Center in the governorate received the report on Tuesday evening, noting that the prompt response of the Armed Forces contributed to reducing the casualties and rescuing most individuals.
The Ministry of Petroleum stated that it is monitoring the situation moment by moment, in coordination with all relevant authorities, and will take all necessary technical and legal measures to determine the causes of the incident and prevent its recurrence. Meanwhile, search and sweep operations for the missing individuals continue using advanced equipment and professional divers at the site of the stricken rig.
