At least four crew members died after a jackup barge, 1966-built Admarine 12, owned by Saudi oil and gas driller ADES, capsized on Tuesday evening July 1st in the Gulf of Suez off Ras Ghareb, about 160 miles south of the Suez Canal.
Egyptian authorities said that the capsizing was unlikely to affect traffic through the canal.
The country’s petroleum ministry was informed of the incident by Offshore Shukheir Oil Company (Osoco), which had hired ADES for drilling several wells.
ADES said that the incident occurred while it was being towed to a new location.
At the time of the incident, 30 personnel were on board, including 18 ADES personnel. According to the company, 23 were rescued and three remained missing, as well as the four fatalities. Amr Hanafy, governor of the Red Sea province, said that the survivors had been taken to hospitals for treatment.
SAR operations were continuing, with ships from the Egyptian navy joining the effort to locate the missing workers.
The four fatalities comprised three crew employed by ADES and one among personnel contracted by third parties. ADES said that “we extend our deepest condolences and sincere support to the families and colleagues of those affected by this tragic incident”.
Local media reported that the rig was on its way to the Ashrafieh platform to develop a new gas field, and that it suffered a technical malfunction during towing. This, the reports claimed, led to an imbalance and capsizing within minutes.
Videos of the rig showed that it was now fully turned over.