Gabon oil rig sinking leaves 1 dead, 4 missing

An Indian citizen died and four other workers were missing after an oil rig sank off the coast of Gabon, authorities said Tuesday.

The disaster struck on Sunday as the Prospector 5 platform off Mayumba in southern Gabon was preparing drilling operations, Vice Admiral Bekale-Meyong said.

He said the dead man, an Indian citizen, received a blow to the head, citing statements collected from survivors. Of the 114 other workers aboard when the rig suffered a severe structural failure, three Gabonese citizens and one Croatian remained unaccounted for.

Bekale-Meyong said authorities had deployed an underwater search robot, naval and air assets, drones, a high-seas patrol vessel and a helicopter provided by neighbouring Congo-Brazzaville.

Prospector 5 was being run by Borr Drilling, a Bermuda-based contractor, and was supporting drilling work by Norwegian firm BW Energy.

Gabonese authorities said no oil pollution had been observed after the sinking because the platform was shut at the time. They said monitoring would continue because 280 cubic metres of diesel was aboard the rig.