"Suddenly She Toppled Over*

Disaster strikes a 10,105-ton floating dormitory

"There was a sharp, crackling sound followed by something that sounded like a muffled explosion." So recalled one of the numbed but fortunate few who were plucked from the icy North Sea last week after the worst oil rig disaster in the history of offshore drilling. Battered by towering 25-ft. waves and 55-knot winds, a mammoth floating dormitory housing 212 oil workers capsized and plunged into the sea, 100 miles west of the Norwegian coast.

"There was panic everywhere," said Gerry Stigen, 36, a Norwegian oil rig worker who managed to jump into the water and swim to another rig near by, where he was hoisted aboard. "Everything happened so fast, so suddenly." Emergency flares lit up the nighttime skies as British, German and Norwegian helicopters and a flotilla of ships rushed to the scene. Fighting heavy seas and winds, they struggled to rescue those who had clambered into lifeboats, clung desperately to heaving dinghies or plunged into the near freezing sea.

By week's end, as the chances of finding more survivors faded, the grim toll stood at 40 dead, 83 missing and presumed dead, and 89 rescued. Said an incredulous Captain Kjetil Hauge, whose crew had been relieved only hours before the catastrophe: "I was horrified and shocked. I had been convinced that something like this could not happen. Not with that rig."

Indeed, the Alexander Kielland appeared to be a marvel of modern marine engineering. Built in 1976 by the Compagnie Franc,aise d'Entreprises Metalliques, based in Paris, the pentagonal 10,105-ton platform was leased and operated by Phillips Petroleum Co., the major contractor for oil and natural gas prospecting in the rich Edda field. For the rotating crews that lived there for two weeks at a time, it was intended to be a floating city--a sort of workingman's Titanic. And like the Titanic, the Alexander Kielland was theoretically invulnerable. Says Jakob Eri, director of a Norwegian firm specializing in inspecting ships and rigs: "These rigs are built with watertight partitions in the legs and pontoons. They are supposed to survive any weather and to be absolutely safe."

Confident in their absolute safety, the predominantly Norwegian crew went about business as usual on the fateful evening, despite the mounting gale winds and violent waves that began to buffet the platform. Some of the men were relaxing in their sleeping quarters, others eating in the mess hall or taking in a movie. At 6:30 p.m., their floating world collapsed.

"The platform suddenly tilted about 45 degrees, and everybody was thrown back against a wall," said Olav Skotheim, 41, one of the survivors, who was in the movie theater at the time. "There were about 60 of us in there. We all started scrambling for the exits as the lights went out." Also in the theater was Briton Tony Silvester, 31, who described the scene as one of "complete chaos, with oxygen bottles flying all over the place. Nobody knew what to do. Suddenly she toppled over and I was thrown into the sea." Both men swam to safety. Less fortunate were some 50 others who were believed to have been trapped in the submerged theater.

Norway's Prime Minister Odvar Nordli ordered an official investigation of the accident. The irony was that the rig collapsed only two days before it was due for a complete overhaul. Its designated replacement, the Henrik Ibsen, was recently refitted to accommodate 620 workers; but in light of last week's tragedy, Norwegian authorities withdrew its fitness certificate until a thorough inspection could be completed. The fate of the Alexander Kielland also gave pause to other governments drilling in the area. Calling for a re-examination of offshore oil safety laws, British Energy Secretary David Howell grimly told the House of Commons: "What has happened now is a somber warning of the appallingly dangerous conditions under which people work in the North Sea." For the crew of the Alexander Kielland, that warning came too late.

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