Alexander Kielland oil platform disaster
On the evening of 27 March 1980, one of the main horizontal braces supporting the Alexander L Kielland accommodation platform anchored in the North Sea broke off. The failure ocurred during a storm with wind gusts up to 40 knots with waves up to 12 meters high. The platform immediately heeled over to an angle of 30-35° and then continued to heel and sink slowly. Twenty minutes after the loss of the supporting column, the platform capsized. Of the seven lifeboats on board, only two were launched successfully albeit with great difficulty in part due to bad weather conditions . A massive international air and sea rescue operation was undertaken. Of the 212 men on board the platform when it failed, 123 died.
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