Three people missing, one dies after oil rig falls to pieces in Nigeria’s Delta State
Seplat Energy Plc had announced the death of one of its workers following the collapse of its ‘Majestic’ oil rig near Ovhor in Delta State, southern Nigeria.
The oil company said in a statement on its official X, formerly Twitter handle, that 92 of the 96-member crew were accounted for and safe.
Three others were reported to be missing and yet to be found as of the time of the announcement.
“Seplat Energy regrets to announce a serious incident on the Depthwise swamp drilling rig “Majestic” early this morning. Seplat, the operator of the SEPLAT/NNPCL joint venture, contracted the rig.
“It was in transit to its planned drilling location at Ovhor in Delta State when it capsized.
“92 of the 96-member crew are accounted for and safe. However, tragically one fatality occurred during the incident, while three other rig personnel are still missing.”
It is not clear wether the collapse of the oil rig has caused oil pollution. The oil producing Niger-Delta has been struggling with oil spills for several years.
In 2014, a community in the delta, Bodo, took Shell to court in the UK over an oil spill.
That case was later settled by Shell in 2015, with a massive $84m payout to the Bodo community.
