19 crew evacuated from survey rig

At Humber Coastguard received a call from the standby vessel DUTCH PEARL, reporting that the jack-up rig VAGANT had stuck fast on the sea bed and was being swamped by the rising tide.  19 crew members from the rig were swiftly evacuated to the DUTCH PEARL and MRCC Humber took coordination of the incident.

Hartlepool RNLI all-weather lifeboat was launched to the scene and transferred 16 of the crew members to Teesport.  Coastguard Rescue Teams from Hartlepool and Redcar were alerted to assist with reception of the evacuated casualties ashore.  

Three rig crew members remain on the standby vessel Dutch Pearl and intend to return to the rig at low tide to attempt to free her from the seabed.  A full assessment of any pollution threat to the environment will be carried out at first light.

Watch Manager Drew Mahood said;
 “The initial evacuation was handled quickly and efficiently by the rig’s own standby vessel.  Without the swift action taken by the DUTCH PEARL, the rig crew would certainly have been faced with a life-threatening scenario.  As it is, most of them are now safely ashore and being looked after by their parent company.

“At this time we believe that there is no resultant pollution but we will continue to monitor the situation closely and act accordingly. “


-Ends-
 Notes to Editors

  1. The owners of the platform are based in Belgium, the Platform is carrying out surveys for a windfarm in Tees Bay.

  1. The multinational crew are Lithuanian, Irish, Dutch, Belgian, Portuguese and English

  1. Follow us on Twitter. Find us at MCA_media

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