A Russian oil rig capsized during a storm in the Pacific early Sunday, killing at least four, while dozens remained missing, according to dpa. Fourteen of the 67 workers on board the oil rig were quickly rescued from the water, which had a temperature of 3 degrees Celsius, the regional civil protection minister Taimuraz Kasayev told Interfax news agency. The rescued men had worn life jackets but were suffering from hypothermia, Kasayev said. A helicopter was taking them to hospital. The search for survivors from the Kolskaya platform in the Sea of Okhotsk, in Russia's far east, was hampered by 5-metre high waves, snowfall and icy winds. Several boats were reportedly searching for survivors from the rig, which had completely sunk. They had encountered four rescue boats, but all were empty, suggesting that the crew had no time to organize an evacuation. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev ordered that the search continue into the night. Officials said there was only minimal risk of an oil leak from the platform. The incident occurred around 200 kilometres offshore from the island of Sakhalin, in the north-western Pacific. The oil rig was being towed by an ice breaker at the time. Ice and waves damaged the structure's hatches during the storm, allowing water to seep in, said an official from an investigative agency in Moscow. Sakhalin, lying off the east coast of Siberia between Japan and the Kamchatka Peninsula, is more than 10,000 kilometres from Moscow.
