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Workers evacuated after North Sea blaze

16/03/2006

Close to 130 oil workers have been airlifted to safety from a North Sea oil rig following an electrical blaze, coastguards today confirmed.

Aberdeen coastguards reported that 128 workers had successfully been airlifted from the Tern Alpha platform, which lies 100 miles off the Shetland Isles and 265 miles from north-east Scotland.

Four helicopters and an RAF Nimrod aircraft were involved in the airlift operation which removed "non essential" staff from the platform.

The fire first caught hold in a gas generator on the Royal Dutch Shell platform at 00:45 GMT this morning. The blaze is thought to have started due to an overheated high voltage electrical motor.

Coastguards described the fire as "virtually out" with all workers accounted for and 65 key staff remaining on the platform.

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