MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Storm sinks Russian oil drilling rig off Sakhalin in 20 minutes: 49 crew lost

The “Kolskaya” rig before going down in the sea of Okhotsk

An oil drilling rig with 67 crew members on board capsized and sank off the Russian far eastern island of Sakhalin (North Pacific, Sea of Okhotsk) when it ran into a storm while being towed, leaving 49 of the crew unaccounted for, the regional Emergencies Ministry said.

Fourteen crew members were rescued alive from the 'Kolskaya' jack-up rig, operated by Russian offshore exploration company Arktikmorneftegazrazvedka (AMNGR), and four bodies were recovered. The rest of the crew are missing.

”The floating drilling rig capsized 200 kilometres off the coast of Sakhalin island at 12.45 local time (0145 GMT),“ the Emergencies Ministry said in a statement on its website. The statement said a rescue craft and helicopters had been sent to the site to scour the waters for survivors.

President Dmitry Medvedev ordered all necessary help be allocated to the search and rescue of any remaining survivors in the icy waters while the Emergencies Ministry said it would work through the night.

The disaster posed no ecological danger, but it will deal a blow to efforts by Russia, the world's largest energy producer, to step up offshore oil and gas exploration to offset a long-term production decline in onshore production.

”There is no ecological danger. The vessel was carrying the minimum amount of fuel as it was being tugged by two craft,” said a spokesman for AMNGR, a unit of state-owned Zarubezhneft.

The 'Neftegaz-55' tugboat, also owned by AMNGR, had been towing the Kolskaya rig and took part in the search effort, but pulled out after suffering hull damage. The tug, carrying 11 crew rescued from the rig, was limping to port.

An icebreaker, the 'Magadan', was still at the scene.

The rig, built in Finland in 1985, had been doing work on a minor gas production project in the Sea of Okhotsk for a unit of state-controlled gas export monopoly Gazprom, the company said.

The Kolskaya was heading to the port city of Kholmsk on the western side of Sakhalin Island from the Kamchatka peninsula when strong winds and high waves capsized the vessel. It sank in 20 minutes into waters that are more than 1,000 meters deep.

Russia's prize offshore gas and oil fields lie to the northeast of Sakhalin Island.