By EMMANUELLA ANOKAM

The Nigeria Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NUPRC) has confirmed that search and rescue operations of Personnel on Board (POB) of Seplat Energy’s capsised drilling rig in Delta have started and are still on-going.

The drilling rig had capsised while in transit and was partially submerged at about 5.00am on Tuesday.

The NUPRC management said, in a statement on Thursday, it had been formerly notified by Seplat Energy Plc of the incident involving a drilling rig during its operation at a swamp location in Delta.

The NUPRC said the Depthwize Majestic Rig was contracted by Seplat Energy Plc to drill Ovhor-21 well at a swamp location in Delta.

It explained that the rig completed the drilling of Gbetiokun-11 for NEPL and demobilised on Aug. 9.

“Thereafter, the rig commenced Rig-Move from Gbetiokun-11 well location to the planned Ovhor – 21 well location. Unfortunately, the rig capsised while in transit and was partially submerged at about 5.00 a.m. on Tuesday, Aug. 15.

“Information from our Warri Regional Office confirmed that Search and rescue operations of Personnel on Board (POB) the rig has commenced and it’s on-going.

“Seplat Energy has also submitted Incident Notification Form 41 to the Commission as statutorily required and commenced preliminary and detailed investigation on the incident.

“Out of the 96 personnel on board as the time of incident, 92 have been rescued, one confirmed dead and three yet to be accounted for,” it said.

However, it added that the divers had been mobilised to the location of the incident for search and rescue operations, while the rescued personnel were receiving medical attention at the company’s hospital.

“The Commission will continue to update the public on the detailed outcome of the investigations as more information becomes available,” it said. (NAN)

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