Four crew members died after a jackup barge owned by Saudi oil and gas driller ADES capsized on Tuesday evening, some 300 km south of the Suez Canal.
Egyptian authorities said that the incident happened off Ras Ghareb, located on the African side of the Gulf of Suez, around 130 nautical miles from the southern entrance of the Suez Canal.
Authorities said the capsizing is unlikely to affect traffic through the canal. The country’s petroleum ministry was informed of the incident by the oil and gas production company Offshore Shukheir Oil Company (Osoco), which hired ADES for drilling several wells.
ADES said that the incident on the 1966-built jackup barge Admarine 12 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 have been safely rescued, and three remain missing. Search and rescue operations are ongoing, with ships from the Egyptian navy joining the effort to locate the missing workers. Amr Hanafy, governor of the Red Sea province, said that the survivors were taken to hospitals for treatment.
The incident took the lives of four crewmen, three employed by ADES and one among personnel contracted by third parties.
“We extend our deepest condolences and sincere support to the families and colleagues of those affected by this tragic incident,” the company said.
Local media claimed that the rig was on its way to the Ashrafieh platform to develop a new gas field, but experienced a technical malfunction during towing, which led to an imbalance and capsizing within minutes. Videos of the rig show that it is now fully turned over.
