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Oil platform adrift in North Sea Oil platform adrift in North Sea
(about 8 hours later)
An oil platform carrying 75 people has broken adrift from a tug boat in the North Sea in heavy weather. An oil platform carrying 75 people is still drifting in the North Sea a day after it broke free in heavy weather.
Norwegian rescue services were planning to tie the platform to a tug boat, but have been foiled by rough seas.
"The platform is going towards Poland, it's drifting," a Norwegian rescue official told the AFP news agency."The platform is going towards Poland, it's drifting," a Norwegian rescue official told the AFP news agency.
He said the crew was "mostly British, there are a few Norwegians and a few Portuguese". He said the crew was "mostly British, there are a few Norwegians and a few Portuguese", and that they were not in any danger.
But the authorities said the rig and its crew were not in any danger, and they hoped soon to re-attach the platform to a tug boat. They had not been removed as the weather precluded a helicopter evacuation.
Hans Christensen at the Norwegian Joint Rescue Co-ordination Centre said the Bredford Dolphin drilling rig was being tugged out of Norwegian waters towards Poland for repairs when its towing cable snapped.Hans Christensen at the Norwegian Joint Rescue Co-ordination Centre said the Bredford Dolphin drilling rig was being tugged out of Norwegian waters towards Poland for repairs when its towing cable snapped.
"The situation is now under control, there is no drama there now," he told Reuters. "We are hoping to reattach [the rig] late this afternoon, depending on weather conditions," Sheena Wallace, a spokeswoman for Dolphin Drilling, said earlier on Wednesday.
Officials said the rig - reportedly owned by Norwegian oil group Fred Olsen, and operated by Britain's Peak Well Management - would hopefully be brought back under control when heavy waters subsided following an overnight storm. "The tow vessel is close to the rig and we have sent a second vessel as a precaution, which should arrive in the early evening," she told AFP.
Officials said the rig - reportedly owned by Norwegian oil group Fred Olsen, and operated by Britain's Peak Well Management - would hopefully be brought back under control when heavy waters subsided.