Two Tunisians lost their lives and two others are still missing after an accident on Friday on an offshore oil platform off the west coast of Libya, AFP learned from official sources.
"
A painful accident occurred on the oil platform of the Al-Bouri field, off the Libyan city of Zaouia, resulting in the death of two Tunisian nationals, whose bodies were found immediately, while two others are missing
", probably fell into the water, said the Consulate General of Tunisia in Tripoli.
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A fifth Tunisian, fallen into the water, "
could be rescued and transported by Air Ambulance to the hospital
" while the search continues for the two missing, according to this statement posted on Facebook overnight from Friday to Saturday. According to the Tunisian consulate, the five workers, employed by a Tunisian operator, fell from one of the floating tanks when a cable broke.
Without giving an assessment, the Ports Authority of the Libyan Ministry of Transport said in a statement that it was "
alerted by the management of the Zaouia oil terminal (45 km west of Tripoli) on the accident. , which occurred at 2:30 pm (12:30 pm GMT), when the cables retaining a floating tank broke
”. The "
help was dispatched on the spot
" and an "
investigation was opened to determine the causes of the accident
", according to the press release of the Authority on Facebook.
The al-Bouri offshore platform is one of the most important in the Mediterranean.
This field is located about 120 kilometers off the west coast of Libya and operated by Mellitah Oil and Gas, a joint venture between the private Italian group Eni and the Libyan National Oil Company, NOC (National Oil Corporation).
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According to the Mellitah company, Tunisian workers were dismantling and towing the Slouq reservoir, which has been out of service since 2017.