The Hindu Business Line : When panic gripped Mumbai High and orange overalls turned red

But the rig could accommodate only a limited number of people and Mr George was forced to go down a ladder along the rig's legs and jump into the raging sea. He had his life jacket on and was picked up four and a half hours later by a rescue vessel.

SAFELY BACK: A worker (in orange overalls) who survived the massive fire on the ONGC oil platform at Bombay High North on Wednesday arrives at the Victoria Docks in Mumbai on Thursday. - Shashi Ashiwal

Mumbai , July 28

THE Union Petroleum Minister, Mr Mani Shankar Aiyar, did not miss the irony of it all. By Thursday evening, a series of events triggered by `Samudra Suraksha' - a multi-support vessel (MSV) bearing the very name of protection - had killed 10 persons on or near the Bombay High North (BHN) process platform and sunk the installation. It was the most serious accident in the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation history.

Around noon, survivors from BHN began reaching the Victoria Docks. With medical attention already provided at site, the arrivals appeared polarised into two categories - those wanting to go home and the deceased. The survivors were barefooted and dressed in oil-stained orange overalls; an occasional mass of bandage or cream over burns, but mostly tired faces. As some hugged their colleagues and others wept from sheer shock, Mr Manohar Kaoshe, a piping engineer on BHN and Mr Binu George, contracted for electrical work on the platform, spoke about their experience.

Mr Koashe, who during his return trip jotted down the sequence of events in a small diary, said that the entire platform shook when the Samudra Suraksha collided with BHN. It sheared an oil line and explosions began from the lower reaches of the offshore structure. The broken oil line, he said, had been responsible for the spillage at site. Response time was very limited and soon the platform started collapsing. Mr Koashe escaped from the fire in a lifeboat carrying 50 people.

Mr Binu George appeared the stronger of a small group, one of whom — newly inducted for work offshore - cried copiously on the way out from the docks. Mr George said that the MSV had been in BHN's vicinity for a while seeking permission to come close. Four persons were also transferred from it to the platform in a `basket.' When the collision occurred, a trunk gas pipeline ruptured, triggering the explosion.

In panic, he ran towards Noble Charlie Yester, the adjacent private drilling rig linked to BHN by a bridge.

But the rig could accommodate only a limited number of people and Mr George was forced to go down a ladder along the rig's legs and jump into the raging sea.

He had his life jacket on and was picked up four and a half hours later by a rescue vessel.

In bits and pieces, these stories appeared to tie in with the official version of the accident. By evening, the ONGC Chairman & Managing Director, Mr Subir Raha, said that while sub-sea pipelines at site were safe, some of the `risers' - pipeline portions above sea level - had been affected.

But the last word must belong to Mr Aiyar. "Until the report of the inquiry committee, it will not be proper to hazard any guesses," he said.

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