* TV news of the Piper Alpha Disaster, North Sea, Scotland, 1988 167 oilmen lost in disaster (RIP) Brian Simpson Alba Oil and Gas Community! www.albaoil.com AlbaFireFifgters (AFF) http AlbaOil on Twitter twitter.com *
Video Rating: 5 / 5
RIP Credit BBC. Piper Alpha was a North Sea oil production platform operated by Occidental Petroleum (Caledonia) Ltd. The platform began production in 1976, first as an oil platform and then later converted to gas production. An explosion and resulting fire destroyed it on July 6, 1988, killing 167 men, with only 59 survivors. The death toll includes 2 crewmen of a rescue vessel. Total insured loss was about £1.7 billion (US$ 3.4 billion). To date it is the world’s worst offshore oil disaster in terms both of lives lost and impact to industry. At the time of the disaster the platform accounted for around 10% of the oil and gas production from the North Sea. 9:55 pm Condensate (LPG) Pump A was switched on. Gas flowed into the pump, and because of the missing safety valve, produced an overpressure which the loosely fitted metal disc did not withstand. Gas audibly leaked out at high pressure, drawing the attention of several men and triggering six gas alarms including the high level gas alarm, but before anyone could act, the gas ignited and exploded, blowing through the firewall made up of 2.5 x 1.5 metre panels bolted together, which were not designed to withstand explosions. The custodian pressed the emergency stop button, closing huge valves in the sea lines and ceasing all oil and gas production. Theoretically, the platform would be then have been isolated from the flow of oil and gas and the fire relatively contained. However, because the platform was originally built …
Video Rating: 4 / 5
32 Responses
this still sends a shiver up my spine
I can proudly say that my father in law, along with his friend and work colleague Red Adair, were drafted in to help put this thing out. I was told what it was like and was shown a photo. Just unbelievable. With the ferocity of the blaze, and the conditions of wind and sea, I think it was one of Red’s hardest ever jobs.
Pilot Steve Hodgson and Radop Steve Griffen being interviewed for T.V. news
My grandy was on there. He survived. God bless them all.
my granda saved people on that rig god bless them all
God bless to all that were never found,Monty Chitta
i knew someone killed in this terrible disaster. this is now 20 years later . he was never found … god bless them all . the dead the survivors and the ones never found. my friend was never found.
god bless..
The way the rig was designed just screamed “failure failure blow up blow up”
Tragic. It’s an incredible chain of events. 30 bodies were never recovered. The part of the platform which contained the galley where about 100 victims had taken refuge was recovered in late 1988 from the sea bed, and the bodies of 87 men were found inside. An audible high pressure gas leak was initially reported…I’m a gas engineer, and I know how loud a high pressure leak is…you can hear it from hundreds of meters away, screaming. It must have been terrifying. From start to finish.
R.I.P 167 people :`(
@Masterfilm15ITS TIME TO WAKE UP TO OUR REALITY. What does that even mean you fucking tool?
The Ninian Central Platform cracked during construction. Howard Doris ordered a cover-up. Some of the Kishorn Commandos know this is true. I saw photographs of the cracks in 1979. I didn’t understand what I was looking at until last year.
Instead of de-commissioning this flawed concrete monster it’s being pushed until……… what? Another preventable disaster?
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i want the complet vidio
@VanillaIce0
correct my friend thats why whenever i go to work out on site the permit to work is given to you signaling that the area you are working on is isolated and you lock the permit in a box with a padlock on it so only you can get it and give it back to the operator to re-initialise the area you have been working on
much safer now but there will always be accidents where human error is involved thats why they are called accidents
@wulli1988 It was removed and replaced by a temporary blank flange, unfortunatly, because the operater did not follow the corrent proceedings with the Permit to Work, the crew on the next shift did not know about it and carried on with the operation. Lessons are always learnt the hard way. Health and Safety has become paramount every since the terrible accident. RIP.
One of my earliest memories was watching this on the TV.
may they all rest in peace
“Death leaves a heartache no one can heal, love leaves a memory no one can steal.”
@akablenk71 yeah the official report said that the safety valve was removed from pump A
@akablenk71 the tharos couldn’t use its water cannon because they knew if there was anyone still onboard the sheer volume of the water would kill them
@akablenk71 yep the high pressure main gas line ruptured and unleashed a 150 m fireball which killed them
@akablenk71 The Tharos is actually now named the Transocean Marianas… An interesting fact is that it was drilling the Macondo well right before Deepwater Horizon took over, and subsequently blew out….
@comatose100 Those people onboard Tharos and all the other rescue craft did everything they could to help, but Piper was a lost cause once the pipeline burst. Thank God 59 survived but we must never forget the 165 from the platform that died and 2 crew of the Sandhaven. This was an awful event that could have been avoided. Lessons were learnt the hard way.
@akablenk71
My Dad was on the Tharos at the time
RIP what a bad way to go:/ i was set on fire and dam it fukin hurts. Seeing this is horrible but still doesnt stop me pursuing my dreams to work on a rig:)
@numanath94 If you meant the oil rig type vessel then that was called The Tharos, it’s a large semi submersible fire fighting, rescue and accommodation vessel. By chance it was very close by when this terrible event happened.
@numanath94 I think this was the stand-by vessel Sandhaven which had just sent a fast rescue boat to pick up survivors from the water, it had 2 crew on board and had just rescued 6 survivors when the pipeline burst. All on board the rescue boat were killed. R.I.P.
@paddytheduck So true!
what is the vessel next to the rig ? 37 sec ?
@akablenk71
thanks
@mbucd. Track is by Brian Eno – An Ending(Ascent)
whats the music playing here?