Three people had died and 45 were missing after a fire destroyed an offshore oil rig platform off India's western coast, officials said Wednesday, dpa reported. India's petroleum minister Mani Shankar Aiyer said 385 people were working on the main oil processing platform of the state-run Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) when it caught fire, PTI news agency reported. "We had a major fire and the platform has been completely destroyed. There is bound to be some loss of life and injuries," Aiyar told a press conference in Delhi earlier in the evening. He said some of the workers had managed to escape onto lifeboats and others had jumped into the sea, but it was not clear how many had survived the tragedy. An Coast Guard official said 331 people had been rescued, PTI news agency reported. Rescue operations by coast guard vessels and Indian defence forces ships and aircraft would continue through the night, the official added. The fire broke out on the main platform of the rig, about 160 kilometres off the west coast of Bombay, at about 4:30 Indian Standard Time. The petroleum minister said Dornier aircraft had been dropping lifejackets and life rafts into the sea near the accident site. The Bombay High offshore oil field produces 40 per cent of the 33 million tonnes of crude oil India produces annually. ONGC chairman Subir Raha said the platform, which gathered oil from upto 20 wells and supplied 80,000 barrels per day, would take several months to return to normal production. -- SPA 2234 Local Time 1934 GMT
