According to the investigation, seven people are to blame for the accident – four managers in Arktikmorneftegazrazvedka (AMNGR), the captain of the “Magadan” icebreaker that was towing the rig, a representative from the icebreaker’s owners and the captain of “Kolskaya”, who died in the accident, Izvestia reports.
The Kolskaya drilling rig with 67 people aboard was being towed in a severe storm when it overturned and sank some 200 km off the Sakhalin Island in December 2011. The waves were 5-6 meters high and the water temperature around 1°C.
53 people died in the accident, making it the largest in the history of the Russian oil and gas sector. 14 people were rescued. At least 32 of the crew of 67 came from the Murmansk region.
The report concludes that serious mistakes were made during the towing of the rig. The captain changed the route without giving notice to AMNGR; AMNGR failed to evacuate non-essential personnel from the rig before towing; distress signal was sent out too late; the icebreaker failed to come to rescue in time.
As BarentsObserver wrote, one of the people mentioned in the report, Deputy Director at AMNGR Vasily Vasetsky, has already been fired from his position.
