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At Least Two Killed, 29 Still Missing In Azerbaijan Oil-Rig Tragedy


Authorities in Azerbaijan have found the body of a second dead oil worker and were searching for 29 others missing since a storm caused their Caspian Sea offshore oil rig to catch fire.

Meanwhile, President Ilham Aliyev has declared a national day of mourning for those killed or missing since a fire broke out late on December 4.

Flags were being flown at half-staff across the country as well as at Baku’s diplomatic missions abroad.

Azerbaijan’s state-owned oil company, SOCAR, said rescue workers evacuated 33 from the oil rig, where they had been hanging in lifeboats suspended 10 meters above the stormy waters.

The head of Azerbaijan’s Oil Workers’ Right Protection Committee, Mirvari Gakhramanly, said on December 5 that 32 workers were killed and 42 were rescued.

But SOCAR, the operator of the oil rig, did not immediate confirm Gakhramanly’s claim.

Based on reporting by Reuters, AP, and AFP

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